BLUE OCTOBER
02 RITZ MANCHESTER
10/03/2022
Support from
DAYTIME TV
Words and Photos by Joanne Marsland
Edinburgh indie rock band DAYTIME TV, formerly HUNTER AND THE BEAR, proved that changing your name and shaving off your beard doesn’t affect your ability to churn out some cracking good tunes. Their new album is certainly packed with catchy tracks, ZOMBIE being one of my favourites and it sounded even better live.
This year they are playing the 2 festivals which , in my opinion, have the best line-ups, MAD COOL in Madrid and Y NOT in Derbyshire, and I reckon they will accumulate a sizeable amount of new fans.
Texas rock band BLUE OCTOBER had the fans waiting in excited anticipation as the stage lit up with blue and their beautiful instrumental THE STILL played out before the band eventually appeared.
No introductions, just straight into the first track DAYLIGHT, a balance of softly sung verses and a hardcore headbanging chorus to set the crowd up nicely for what was to be a night of mixed emotions. If a stranger to this band asked me to compare them with another I would have to say Biffy Clyro, a distinctive guitar based sound but with added violin, balancing loud with quiet, hard with soft, knocking out beautiful ballads just as easily as those hard-core rock anthems. Justin gives everything to the crowd in his performance, not just as a vocalist and guitarist but also as an attention capturing storyteller, both lyrically and in speaking. After waiting 16 years to hear the live version of one of my favourite ever songs, HATE ME, and nearly shedding a tear, Justin played his trump card with a heart wrenching story about how being a drug addict led to his father, who was a cop, to take his daughter away from him.
It was one of those ‘could hear a pin drop’ moments, although it was quite a long moment, and only when there wasn’t a dry eye left at the ritz did he announce the happy ending of how his daughter now lives with him and his dad had inevitably saved his life. What an intro to the awesome track FEAR which had everyone singing along. LEAVE IT IN THE DRESSING ROOM (SHAKE IT UP) was another highlight for me, fantastic light show and frantic drumming. DEBRIS was the final track before the encore which is where I had to regrettably leave for home.
It was a spectacular show considering I only really knew one song, however next time I will be singing along to every single one of them.
Setlist
THE STILL
1. DAYLIGHT
2. THE WAY I USED TO LOVE YOU
3. THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR
4. SAY IT
5. OH MY MY
6. INTO THE OCEAN
7. HATE ME
8. FEAR
9. HOME
10. COAL MAKES DIAMONDS
11. I HOPE YOU’RE HAPPY
12. FIGHT FOR LOVE
13. LEAVE IT IN THE DRESSING ROOM ( SHAKE IT UP)
14. DEBRIS
encore
15. CALLING YOU (acoustic)
16. 18TH FLOOR BALCONY
17. ONLY LOST IS FOUND
18. SWAY
19. MOVING ON ( SO LONG)
