Music, Manchester and Micheal Aldag: A Pretty Perfect Combination

From the moment the venue doors opened to the second the audience had all left again, Michael Aldag created the most incredible, energetic atmosphere. 

It was as though the world outside of Gorilla in Manchester ceased to exist, and all that mattered now was screaming one’s lungs out to this perfectly-curated setlist. And if that wasn’t enough, the ample opportunity to hear his songs in a slightly different way to their recorded versions added much more energy and dynamism to this performance. 

His first song was the sensational ‘Apathy’, a track dedicated to avoiding the feeling of apathy at all costs, whilst embracing the tragedies that life too often throws at us. He came out on stage with his signature ginger hair twirling as he ran to each side of the room; smiles were abundant both within his band and the audience. The once-blue lights turned to a dark purple, leaving only the outlines of the performers truly visible, yet the room lit up with fans singing along to every single word. 

Following this, he swayed with the mic stand and sang ‘Polaroid’ centre stage, as if he was the embodiment of everyone who has ever felt less-than. Not only does the track itself capture the feeling of never being quite good enough for the person one truly believes is a soulmate, but the way Aldag sings it live gives it this amplified feeling of intensity. Almost as if every soul in that audience projected their relation to this feeling onto that stage, and Aldag sang with his whole heart for us all. 

There are many tracks on Aldag’s discography where the lyrics are dedicated to being too much, too intense or feeling too strongly about any number of things. The song ‘Sabotage’ is a prime example of such; when performed live, the smile on Aldag’s face was of course from the enjoyment of doing what he loves, but it also seemed as though it came from a place of relief. As though singing these feelings of perhaps regret, or at least an acceptance of how deeply one can feel something, awakened a solace in the artist, and subsequently gave us as an audience a reason to sing with him, to be there with him feeling all that he does. There was not a moment during this track where one singular person was not singing along, as was the case undeniably for the more recent viral hits ‘Cubicles’ and ‘Cheating’; during these, Aldag’s audience communication was second-to-none as encouraged everyone to sing-along and took the pockets of listeners only familiar with his new releases to a deeper level of love for him. His running along the stage and consistent eye contact, throughout the whole performance but especially these songs, really allowed the atmosphere to feel wholly together, to feel as though we were one body experiencing everything that Aldag sings about.

Then, after his sunglasses came off, his hair was tossed around even more and inevitably audience members began losing their voices, there was a strong moment of vulnerability. Aldag expressed that ordinarily performing this specific song in Manchester brings a tear to his eye, but explained a determination to prevent that this time. However, there was certainly no lack of tears from his fans. The song in question was ‘Bleak’, something that speaks to the prominent social conversation of mental health issues, and the sorrow and pain that can accompany living in such a bleak mind space. It’s incredibly moving; Aldag was so vulnerable with us in that moment, and coming after such high-energy performances made this stand out. The room stood still and wanted to just be there with him, feeling everything that the song brings out in a person, finding relief in singing the lyrics all together. The same atmosphere was created as he performed a cover of ‘Read My Mind’ by The Killers; it was an insight into Aldag’s own musical taste but also a chance for us to truly appreciate the extent of his vocal abilities without singing alongside him too much. 

After leaving the stage once and returning for a few more songs, including the fan favourite ‘Girlfriends’, his set came to a close and he thanked us before twirling around once more and blowing a kiss. It is astonishingly apparent how much he truly loves his fans, his work and the opportunity to give us everything he does. To provide the world with music that speaks to people on another level, that is raw and vulnerable but also just so much fun to listen to and sing aloud. 

He never lies in his lyrics and constantly manages to capture the spectrum of emotions that comes with being a human being, allowing the good, the bad and the ugly to be sung into reality. And to hear these songs with minute changes in tempo, or keys within the track was magical; he is known for including riffs and holding notes in unique ways and this was amplified in a live performance. Almost as if harmonising with his original tracks (sung by the audience) Aldag’s talent and appreciation grows with every musical note, and this performance was amongst the most dynamic, fun and awe-inspiring ones of the modern musical era. 

Abby Tapping 

@abs.tapp75