The Wonder Years are back to celebrate a decade of their landmark album No Closer to Heaven, bringing with them US cohorts Gully Boys and Free Throw to the Manchester’s spectacular Albert Hall.
Gully Boys
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It’s a first time UK outing for the power-pop-punk quartet Gully Boys who make quick work of warming up the Manchester crowd with their fun and bouncy selection of songs. Vocalist Kathy Callahan’s passionate stage presence is the metric for tonight’s energy levels, and the whole group seems to be eating up the positive vibes that are bouncing back from the crowd. Hopefully its not too long until the band find themselves back over our way.
Free Throw
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The positive vibes continue on with our next support, Nashville emo collective Free Throw. Clearing playing to a room of fans already intimately familiar with the bands flavour of emo-punk. Twinkly guitar melodies dynamically shift over into biting choruses. 100% of which is catchy and danceable, the crowd wasting no time in screaming back choruses and opening mosh pits while also introducing our first crowd surfers of the night as the opening volley of ‘The Corner’s Dilemma’ sends the room into motion.
‘Mike Nolan’s Long Weekend’ from the band’s upcoming Moments Before The Wind full length marks the new material portion of the set and goes down a treat and the sing-a-long outpouring of set closer ‘Two Beers In’ is a euphoric send off into our main act of the night.
The Wonder Years
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And finally it’s time for pop-punk legends The Wonder Years to take the stage as the room buzzes. A spotlighted Dan ‘Soupy’ Campbell, acoustic guitar in hand eases the room into this emotional rollercoaster of an evening with a gentle build-up of album closer ‘No Closer to Heaven’ acting as a calm before the storm. ‘Cardinals’ kick starts the set and the Manchester crowd explodes with energy. A Wonder Years crowd is a joy that simply must be experienced. Bodies don’t stop moving for almost the entire show, whether its mosh pits opening or crowd surfers giving security a right good work out there is an outpouring of emotion made manifest in one form or another. If it wasn’t clear from the get go you can feel the importance this album has to so many in the crowd with every song, whether its the heart pumping energetic propulsion of songs like ‘Bluest Things on Planet Earth’ or the subtle quieter moments like ‘You in January’ or ‘Stained Glass Windows’ being met with equal measures of passion. It seems we are being treated to a packed setlist with ‘Slow Dancing with San Andreas’ also making an appearance. TWY setlist staples such as ‘Cigarettes & Saints’ are full-bodied emotional blows in recorded form but live take on a whole new scale with the packed room screaming the words back at top volume.
After the effecting climax of ‘Palm Reader’ the band exit for a well earned respite before diving into the final segment of the evening. The iconic opening lines of ‘Passing Through A Screen Door’ kick things back into full gear with Campbell relinquishing vocal duties for the entire opening verse to allow the screaming crowd to take centre stage, ‘Dismantling Summer’ follows quickly behind and it might as well be noted now that starting from the moment the band step back on stage until the final notes of the night it is essentially one big singalong session, the crowd rarely dips below a roar for the remainder of the night, at moments even drowning out Campbell completely. A couple selections off the band’s most recent release ‘The Hum Goes on Forever’ is next, a work that Campbell refers to as the best material that band have written. And it’s honestly hard to argue, ripping into both ‘Low Tide’ and ‘Oldest Daughter’ the latter featuring one hell of a call and response section.
‘Heaven’s Gate (Sad & Sober)’ and ‘GODDAMITALL’ lead us to our send off for the night, a wild, raucous rendition of ‘Came Out Swinging’. If this is indeed the last time we might see The Wonder Years on these shores for some time then its safe to say they made one hell of an exit.
All images by | William Mawdsley