all photos courtesy of Ric Harris (aka @landwomble)
-ACADEMY, MANCHESTER-
What can we say about Sleaford Mods that hasn’t been said already? I think we’re all on the same page really. There’s no one quite like them and we bloody love them for it. The tenacious twosome from Nottingham haven’t really stopped since their formation at the turn of the decade, constantly releasing new material then touring the arse of it. It’s this dedication that has lead to an army of fans and sees them enter their fifth studio album cycle at the peak of their powers, selling out huge rooms across the country.
The Academy is rammed tonight, to the point where we squeeze our way to the front to find that some wanker has been in my bag and nicked my headphones! But I won’t go on about that too much, I try and channel my anger into shouting along with Jason and Andrew tonight.
Jason is a fascinating frontman to watch, whether he’s ad-libbing throughout to ram home the rage of a song’s content or hilariously pirouetting across the stage in between tunes. He is of course on top form tonight, forever grateful to their followers for being there and getting involved with their rowdy brand of hip-hop inspired post punk.
As expected tonight’s set is driven by tracks from their latest record Eaton Alive and its diversity really shines through. Tracks like ‘Kebab Spider’ and ‘Discourse’ provide the pop bangers with huge hooks that the whole room sing back at some volume. ‘Flipside’, ‘Top It Up’ and ‘Subtraction’ are darker, heavier and full of intensity, which really riles up the crowd as beat maker Andrew head bangs along to some of the strongest beats he’s created. When I first heard this record I knew it was going to really bloom when being pumped out of a massive PA and combined with the energy coming from both on and off stage, the Mods have staged quite the party atmosphere this evening.
Naturally the band get stuck into some older cuts too and working class anthems like ‘Job Seeker’ and ‘Jolly Fucker’ still make everyone in the room want to the punch their fists in the air with the upmost sincerity. Band of the people? Too fucking right.
One of my favourite quotes from the band’s recent documentary is from Portishead / Beak virtuoso Geoff Barrow who simply says that when it comes to seeing the Mods in a live format “you just can’t fuck with it”. Never have truer words been said. The only changes are that the size of the audience keeps expanding as well as their consistently superb back catalogue. As always Sleaford Mods prove tonight that they are an unstoppable force, a total one off and ultimately a wonderful bunch of kunst.
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