The day before storm Arwen hit the northwest, Manchester experienced another whirlwind as Frank Carter and his band the Rattlesnakes capped off the UK leg of their tour at the packed out Manchester Academy.
The support acts definitely did not disappoint, opening with the uniquely charismatic Lynks who paraded around the stage in his black rubber mask with his two backing singers, singing a variety of entertaining songs, my personal favourite was about how to cook a Béchamel sauce in 10 steps.
The electropop princess Cassyette was the second support act and her hard-core vocals gave the audience the perfect appetiser to the main event.
At precisely 9:30pm Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes hit the stage, Carter who was sporting a blue sling on his left arm due to a fractured elbow suffered earlier in the tour, started the phenomenal set with ‘My Town’ the 1st song released from the 2021 album ‘Sticky’. The hard hitting, fast paced anthem set the tone for the evening.
During the set Carter made continuous efforts to make the show a total inclusive environment for everyone in attendance, this was made clear before the second song ‘Wild Flowers’ began. Carter insisted the mosh pit just be just for the females for that song, and that it was the job of the men to make sure this is a safe space.
He policed this by stopping mid song to point out a few men who got a little carried away “this one song is for the girls, after that the pit is for everyone”.
The crowd was electric throughout and apart from a brief moment when Carter stopped the show during ‘Kitty Sucker’ due to a fan having a problem (fortunately this didn’t appear to be serious) they bounced, sang and interacted for the whole show.
Carter even spent two songs being carried by the crowd around the pit, his fractured elbow did not prevent him from connecting with the fans.
The raucous show continued at a break neck pace with uniquely interactive moments scattered throughout, from hundreds of roses (that were handed out preshow) being launched into the air at the chorus of ‘Cupids arrow’ to an impromptu duet with a six-year-old fan Seth. This night will live long in the memory.
Both support acts got in on the fun as first Cassyette was invited on stage to hammer out the rock duet ‘Off with His Head’, then Lynks arrived in a red sequin devil morph suit to join in with ‘Bang Bang’ and crowd favourite ‘Get a Tattoo’. This felt like an emotional finale to this leg of the tour for all the acts who performed superbly throughout the night.
The show finished with a three song encore of ‘Angel Wings’, ‘Crowbar’ and ‘Original Sin’ which had the crowd in raptures and brought the breathless high energy evening to an end.
This is undoubtedly one of the best live performances I have seen and I would highly recommend to anyone who gets the opportunity to see Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes live to take it. You will not be disappointed.
Review and Photos by Andrew Giddings
Rating 5 out of 5
