MASSIVE WAGONS/ VIRGINMARYS MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 18/04/2023

1 year ago
Read Time:3minutes

Massive turnout for MASSIVE WAGONS on a Tuesday night in Manchester, I won’t lie, I was originally there to catch my favourite band the VIRGINMARYS but hey, 2 great bands are better than 1 right?

VIRGINMARYS

This deafening duo from Macclesfield would have you thinking there were some other members hiding behind a curtain, but no, that’s just the product of pure blood, sweat and passion which Ally and Danny put into every single track. Becoming a duo was a fairly recent thing but the fact that over half of the set list was made up of the new material solidifies the belief they have in this new career juncture, and on Tuesday they showcased these tracks like their life depended on it…. THE MEDS, YOU’RE A KILLER, LIES LIES LIES, NYC, DEVIL KEEPS COMING and WHERE ARE YOU NOW?

Ally somehow manages to be heard screaming his vocals over his own brutal guitar riffs and Danny thrashes his drums and cymbals with such aggression they’ve been known to fight back.

The older songs joined the set together perfectly, PORTRAIT OF RED, JUST A RIDE and BANG BANG BANG are massive favourites of the moshers while the more melodic and lyrical masterpieces MOTHERLESS LAND and LOOK OUT FOR MY BROTHER will appeal to a wider audience. It was a strange experience watching them amidst a vast crowd of WAGONS fans, feeling somewhat exposed, singing and dancing on my own, but I did spot a few of the VMS family front and centre shouting out the anthemic choruses along with Ally, and I suspect many converts were made on this tour as I overheard a few conversations after Tuesdays set saying how much they enjoyed the energy of the band, welcome and where have you been??

I’ve never been to a MASSIVE WAGONS gig before but I could tell it was going to be a belter just from the atmosphere as the intro music played. This is a well established rock band who like to change it up a bit, mixing different genres could easily alienate certain followings but judging by the age range of the attending fans I’d say they have spread their music to appeal to almost any audience. Mid set saw the band playing back to back covers from 80s band THE OUTFIELD, METALLICA and RICKY MARTIN, yes that last one was a bit too left field for me but the other 2 worked.

The set included a whopping 10 tracks from their latest album TRIGGERED!, FUCK THE HATERS and A.S.S.H.O.L.E have to be the biggest anthems, I particularly enjoyed the kids singing along and flipping the finger. PLEASE STAY CALM is a quality tune and it’s been added to my playlist along with RATIO, the only track played from WELCOME TO THE WORLD and is still my favourite song. SAWDUST had 2 outings on Tuesday as it was being filmed and it was epic both times, great metal sound, plenty of guitars and hair whipping.

I think BARRY gave it his all and more, unfortunately this has led to the next gig having to be rescheduled while he tries to rescue his voice, keep eating that Manuka honey.

He quoted LEMMY during the gig saying ‘there’s only 2 kinds of music, music you like and music you don’t f***ing like’ and this could apply to MASSIVE WAGONS with their varied genres, fortunately I liked the majority of what was played on the night and will definitely look forward to seeing them again, just please no LIVIN LA VIDA LOCA next time.

Words by Joanne Marsland

Photos by Philip Goddard