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 Lancashire County Cricket Ground, Old
Trafford
Saturday 17th June 2006
When we got our hands on some tickets for Richard Ashcroft’s
‘homecoming’ gig in Manchester with just 24 hours to go, The LINC were
straight on the phone to Parlaphone Records, desperately trying to blag
a last minute interview with Wigan’s favourite son.
Sadly, we didn’t get past the label’s answering machine. Yet if we did,
there’d be one question we would’ve had to ask:
“How does it feel to be packing Lancashire Cricket Ground and attracting
thousands upon thousands of fans ten years after the height of your
popularity?”
Indeed, it says something about both the former Verve frontman’s
excellent songwriting talents and the legacy his old band left behind
that our boy can bring in such a huge, devoted audience.
Though before Rich can rock the ground to its core, we’ve got some
support acts to get through and there’s quite a few of them.
As the crowds start to arrive and set about basking in the glorious
sunshine of this festival atmosphere, we are greeted by the site of a
lone man on a vast stage, harmlessly plucking at an acoustic guitar.
Looking like a younger version of Hundred Reasons’ main man Colin Doran,
Irish singer/songwriter Simple Kid plays the sort of elastic,
guitar-and-harmonica fashioned acoustic folk-pop being played by
countless Bob Dylan would-be's the world over.
Not that this is such a terrible thing in itself. Singles such as
‘Twenty Something’ and ‘Truck On’ bounce through the buoyant summer air
and lend themselves almost perfectly to this sort of gig.
Unfortunately, this solitary sole on such a spacious stage fails to
really connect with a still-arriving, somewhat apathetic audience.
Akala suffers similar problems next, albeit for entirety different
reasons. A surprise addition to this indie dominated bill, rapper Akala
arrives on the scene to both bemusement and indifference, as he demands
that the crowds get on their feet and tune in to his socially aware
brand of hip-hop.
Spitting out lyrics over pre-recorded hard rock, Akala sounds something
like Senser’s Heitham Al-Sayad waxing lyrical over Led Zeppelin style
riffs played by a slightly exhausted Clutch. By and large, it’s pretty
good stuff, and does enough to impress your homeboy-wannabe reviewer.
Yet when you’re a hip-hopper rapping constantly about London in front of
thousands of indie lovers in Manchester, you can’t expect much.
Consequentially, Akala doesn’t stick around for long.
An even bigger surprise than the moderately unwelcome rapper are
newcomers The Feeling, who rip it up and kick some butt with an
explosive burst of guitar pop.
If your only experience of the Sussex-based five piece is from their
chart-bothering, middle of the road ditty ‘Fill My Little World’, then
you might be forgiven for seeing The Feeling as yet another watered
down, mainstream soft rock act.
However, as the Chris Moyles’ favourites hit the stage in early evening,
it becomes all too apparent that such assumptions couldn’t be further
from the truth.
As the sun continues to shine, Dan Gillespie Sells & Co. quickly dispel
the rather un-called for impression we had of the group as 2006’s answer
to Toploader with blazing guitars and impassioned vocals. Taking full
control of the stage, The Feeling are rock ‘n’ roll in its purest form,
and finally arouse the crowd from their stoic slumber with some
brilliantly bold tunes.
Only time will tell if these boys will stand out as one of Britain’s
best bands, or if they’ll fall by the wayside when fickle trends
inevitably shift, yet if tonight is anything to go by, they’ve got the
potential to go all the way.
Something that main support act Razorlight need no longer worry about.
Welcomed by a frenzied reception, the Anglo-Swedish quartet have the
enthusiastic crowd eating out of the palm of their hand and singing
along to every word.
Bursting with untamed energy, these purveyors of acoustic pop punk could
easily be mistaken for tonight’s headliners, such is the command they
hold over the crowd.
Adorned in some Clockwork Orange styled garb, frontman Johnny Borrell
leads his men through a blistering performance that packs all the hits
and crowd pleasers into one solid set, abandoning between-song banter in
favour of tune after tune of powerful rock ‘n’ roll.
Finally, as the sun begins to slowly fade behind a stunning backdrop of
large amps and video screens, the thousands of sun-drunk music lovers
packed into the famous cricket ground batch their first glimpse of a
lanky, long-haired Wiganer, and go positively mental.
Ashcroft matches them, jubilant yell for jubilant yell, a towering
figure of exuberance and exhilaration as he orders his backing band into
a sonic rendition of ‘Why Not Nothing’.
If Razorlight had the crowd eating out of their hands, Rich’ uses his to
grab this packed crowd and hurl them right into the heart of his
melodic, soulful songs and keeps them for a good hour and a half.
Playing a blinding set that spans his entire career, the man described
by Chris Martin as ‘The best songwriter in the world’ belts out past and
present hits left, right and centre.
Whether it’s the arms-around-each-other, sway-in-the-summer-breeze sing
alongs of Verve classics such as ‘History’, ‘Sonnet’ and ‘Lucky Man’, or
the stomping psychedelic freak out of monster track ‘New York’ which
Rich dedicates to his mum, everything he gives tonight, the hungry crowd
lap up and beg for more.
And the more they beg, the more he gives. Make no mistake about it,
Ashcroft is on top of the world, throwing his gangly frame about the
stage with abandon, feeding off the enlivened crowd, giving as much as
he can and relishing every second.
With the clear night sky now in full bloom, Ashcroft takes a bow,
returning for the encore with a spirited, stripped down version of ‘Song
for the Lovers’ before inviting collaborator DJ Shadow on the stage for
a run through of ‘Lonely Soul’.
Then it happens. As the euphoria that has been slowly building all day
finally reaches fever pitch, five simple words are uttered. ‘This is
Bitter Sweet Symphony’.
The place erupts as Richard & Co. let rip with a beautiful, grandiose
rendition of The Verve classic that has every single person singing
along in unison over those lush strings and memorable melodies.
How does it feel to attract all these people ten years after ‘Bitter
Sweet…’s success? Judging by Ashcroft’s joyful expression and demi-god
like posing, you can only believe that he absolutely loves it.
Recommended Links:
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www.richardashcroft.com – Richard Ashcroft’s official website.
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www.razorlight.co.uk – Razorlight’s official website
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www.thefeeling.co.uk – The Feeling’s official website.
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www.simplekid.co.uk – Simple Kid’s official website
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