It’s a typically chilly July evening on the streets of Manchester, Alkaline Trio are in town tonight. The Paramount – a Wetherspoons within a stone’s throw of tonight’s venue – is already bustling with 30-somethings adorning faded skull and heart tattoos and stone-washed Bad Religion t-shirts.
The Chicago three-piece have been coming to these shores for almost three decades and a lot of the faces packed inside the famous Ritz ballroom will have been there from the very beginning. Ever since, ‘Stupid Kid’ exploded onto Kerrang! TV screens, this country’s punk scene has been enthralled by Matt Skiba’s penchant for devilish word play and Dan Andriano’s soul-crushing ballads.
Everyone here can pinpoint their favourite Alkaline Trio show whether it be in the sweat stained basements of the nearby university or in the sprawling expanse of a music festival. However, there’s one thing that not many of them can remember – had they ever seen a bad Alkaline Trio show?
Was there ever one that felt a little out-of-step, one where they thought the band were just not feeling it or one where something wasn’t just quite right? The answer is no. This band doesn’t do bad shows and everyone knows that. So much so, that when night one of this tour in Manchester sold out, fans were keen to gobble up tickets for a second show planned for a week prior.
In a weird way, for many here, an Alkaline Trio show is like a warm blanket. Somewhere you know, you’ll be in a room with a bunch of people you’ve met many times before over the past 20 years, belting out the words to a song that depicts a dog having difficulty passing a razorblade.
Tonight will be no different.
Norwegian four-piece Slomosa warm things up with their brand of desert rock. Imagine Queens of the Stone Age riffs but replace the cactus and coyote imagery with frozen lakes and snow-covered fjords and you’re there. It’s a refreshing choice of support act for a show like this instead of the usual paint-by-numbers pop punk band you spend the 30 minutes scrolling through your phone.
However, once Slomosa take their bow, it’s time for the main course. Striding out besuited – a bold move under the increasing heat of the room – Trio meet their adorning public. It’s straight into lead track ‘Hot for Preacher’, fresh from their new record ‘Blood, Hair and Eyeballs’, and we’re off to the races.
It’s a hit-laden set designed to keep even the most diehard Trio fan happy. We’re delving into everything from the lesser-spotted ‘Cringe’, the crowd-pleasers in ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Mr Chainsaw’ to the radio-friendly anthems of ‘Calling All Skeletons’’ and ‘Mercy Me’.
There’s even little gems such as ‘Sadie’ and, arguably one of their best songs, ‘Crawl’. During the latter Andriano drops a few bars of The Smiths’ ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’, a homage to one of his favourite bands that once trod the very same boards as he does tonight.
During the huge closers of ‘Time To Waste’ and, of course, ‘Radio’, the younger fans that have kept tonight’s mosh pit moving all evening climb upon shoulders to croon with their heroes. Those of us with the fading tattoos will forever reminisce about that show in 2000-whatever and now the next generation can talk about this night again and again.
TOM WALSH
