Friendship photo by Han Lake
I became aware of alt-country quartet Friendship through their bassist, Jon Samuels, who I saw playing live as part of MJ Lenderman’s ‘the Wind’ touring entourage nearly a year ago. Though he played guitar in that lineup – the bass duties covered by the loveable Landon George – his energy in that show was as distinctively endearing as it was in this Friendship gig. Samuels is one of those captivating cases where it looks as though the music is playing him, rather than the other way around; it was a challenge to try and get a photo of the band in which his face wasn’t hidden by his long brown hair.
On that note, the band, comprised of Samuels, singer and rhythm guitarist Dan Wriggins, Michael Cormier-O’Leary on drums and Peter Gill on lead guitar, were really impressive. Their set comprised songs from their latest album, 2025’s ‘Caveman Wakes Up,’ and songs from previous records ‘Dreamin’ and ‘Love the Stranger’. I had only been familiar with the ‘Caveman…’ tracks before the show, but I enjoyed the older material just as much as their newer stuff.
Regarding the newer material, there were a lot of highlight performances for me. ‘Tree of Heaven,’ a rollicking country/rock tune led by Cormier-O’Leary’s sustained da-dum da-dum drum beat and a gorgeous guitar melody, was one of the first they played. Wriggins’ voice, gruff and rousing, sounded as it did on the recording – as can be said for all of his performances during the show – and the crowd, full of evidently long-time fans, sang the song’s refrain, ‘you know you changed me, babe,’ right back to him.
A wonderful album overall, ‘Caveman…’ has so many lovely refrains and to hear them live, with the band and the crowd singing together, was really special. ‘All Over the World,’ a down-tempo number with a beautiful, meandering bassline from Samuels, ends with the repeated lyrics, ‘hey, buddy, where are you at/I’m all over the world, I’m all over the world’; the raucous ‘Resident Evil’ had the whole room yelling, before the final dopamine hit of a chorus, ‘who’s that shithead in my living room/playing Resident Evil’.
I enjoyed hearing ‘Free Association’ live, even though it lacked the stunning violin swells present on the recorded version. Given that a lot of the ‘Caveman…’ songs feature the violin, it would’ve been nice for them to tour with a violinist and bring that serene string sound achieved on the album to their live shows as well. The songs they played from the previous albums don’t have violin accompaniment, though, which could have been a reason why they chose not to, and I’m sure there’ll be others. I was also chuffed to hear them play ‘Betty Ford,’ on which Wiggins poignantly reflects on past addiction, as part of the encore.
As for the older material, I loved every song they played. ‘Several Stations’ from ‘Dreamin” was a particular highlight for me – its central, hypnotic riff had me enthralled the moment Gill started to play it. ‘Dusky’ and ‘Not an Exit’, the other two they played from ‘Dreamin”, were lush and only solidified my resolve to check out the full album after the show (which I did and strongly recommend that you do too). From ‘Love the Stranger’, Friendship played ‘Mr Chill’, ‘Seasons’ and ‘St Bonaventure’, the latter of which made for a wholesome moment near the start of the show: in the song, Wriggins has a lyric about watching David Attenborough documentaries and, as the day prior to the show was Attenborough’s 100th birthday, the mention of his name inevitably prompted whoops and cheers from the crowd. They also performed a nice rendition of ‘Ol ’55’, originally a Tom Waits song but popularised by Eagles. I wasn’t familiar with the tune beforehand and, from the laidback, plain-speaking lyricism (the opening line, ‘well, my time went so quickly/I went lickedy-splitly’, and the imagery of ‘freeways, cars and trucks’ in keeping with Friendship’s country foundations) I assumed it was original. That said, it was a unique and, ultimately, very successful choice for a cover.
All four musicians were brilliant live, and good fun, too. Near the start of their set, Wiggins mentioned that their last gig had been in Leeds, which prompted a wave of territorial boos from the Manc crowd and Wiggins, in response, bantered, “oh, do we not like them? Yeah, the show sucked, actually, really boring crowd…” It’s nice, anyway, that the people in a band called ‘Friendship’ exude warmth and friendliness. And that the band rocks!
Wyatt photo by Han Lake
I had only heard about Wyatt, the local band who occupied the support slot, through word of mouth. Being completely unfamiliar with their music (though I think their only releases are on Bandcamp currently) I went into their set blind, save for the insistence of a friend (who had seen them perform several times before) that a) I was going to love them and b) they’re going to get big. After seeing them, I can confirm that I agree with both. All band members – a singer/guitarist, bassist, guitarist/trumpeter and drummer – were thrilling to watch, and their set of original material left a palpable impression on those who witnessed it (in spite of its short length). The highlight for me was ‘Holy Ghost’, a transfixing, catchy country/rocker with compelling lyrics and a damn good guitar riff. Absolutely a band to watch – and, they’re from Manchester, so, really, you have a bit of a regional obligation to check them out, I think. They were also giving out free CDs at the show, so catch them before they get big (because they will) and you might still get the chance to get a freebie.
This gig was promoted by Now Wave. For a full list of their forthcoming shows, go to Now Wave – Calendar
