The 5-piece band from Leigh set out to do their burning house party for 3 nights at the Manchester academy. The tour was made to promote their upcoming album KOKO, and each night celebrated a key moment in the band’s rise to fame. The first night celebrated their famous debut album and their iconic second album. The following evening, they celebrated and showcased their charting album Anxiety Replacement Therapy. I had the joy of attending this night and seeing the band play this album in full. Finally, the third night showcased all their hits from across the years alongside the untold orchestra.
From attending the second night I could see the whole tour was focused on the fans and their dedication to the band. Months before the tour Thom Rylance (the lead singer) took to Instagram to show his gratitude to all the bands they had supported. He then asked for any upcoming bands who would like to support them on tour so they could offer other small artists the same chances they had. This led to the two amazing support acts, Cobain Jones and Ruby J. Aswell to keep the audience entertained in between acts they had Thomas Turgoose (from This Is England) DJing, keeping the audience singing along to hits all night. Finally, before The Lottery Winners entered the stage the band organised Bandeoke. Getting audience members up to sing classics such as Don’t Look Back In Anger and Sit Down. This had the audience hyped up and ready to see the iconic Lottery Winners.
Finally, the band arrived on stage with energy and excitement. The band played through their popular album Anxiety Replacement Therapy which includes songs covering important matters from depression, ADHD, mental health and loneliness. The album and the band themselves managed to unite the whole audience over these matters and make an entire room feel like family for the night. To add even more excitement to the night the band brought on 3 surprise guests. In Money, they brought out Bez from Happy Mondays who originally featured on the track. Then they brought out Thom’s old music teacher (who is the reason he pursued his music career) to play the trumpet in Letter To Myself. This was emotional for the whole crowd as they got to see Thom love to his old music teacher. Then in Let Me Down, they brought out the iconic Boy George who also originally featured on the original track. This was a shock to the whole crowd and led to smiles all around. Throughout the concert, the band stopped multiple times to show their gratitude to the audience yet again showing how humble and grateful the band are. This really connected the band to the fans and reinforced the idea of community to the fans.
The band itself is a pop band, but it remains outside of your typical idea of 21st-century pop music. They have songs with heavy beats and vocals from both Rob (the guitarist) and Katie (the bassist). All together the vocals create great harmony, and the beat of every song makes you want to dance. Making them perfect live to dance and sing along this therefore creating a great atmosphere at the academy getting everyone singing and dancing. Despite them not being my typical go to genre I will never turn down a chance to see these live as the atmosphere is always amazing and Thom never fails to make me laugh with his amusing demeanour. He has talked proudly about having ADHD and the struggle that he’s encountered as a result he never fails to show others that they are not alone while also keeping us entertained with his thoughts.
Overall, I’ve yet to meet a band that cares so much about their fans and shows such gratitude as these guys do. All 5 of them Thom, Katie, Rob, and Joe show immense gratitude and support to their fans. Their entire band is based around helping and supporting others. This creates such a great safe place at their concerts and allows everyone to have a great time. Whether their music is your thing you can’t deny their personalities and care for their fans draw you towards supporting the band.
FOLLOW THE LOTTERY WINNERS ON INSTAGRAM // TIKTOK
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