Review: Cast of Cheers at The Deaf Institute

Cast of Cheers at The Deaf Institute on March 3rd 2012

in Manchester, UK
Review: Kev Meagher
Photos: Aidan Cuffe

We here at Goldenplec like to think we are an unbiased lot, but there is something about seeing an Irish act abroad that has you hoping that they tear the house down and let everyone there know how healthy the Irish music scene is these days. This was the situation myself and GP head honcho Aidan Cuffe found ourselves in when we caught Cast of Cheers live in Manchester last Sunday.

The band were midway through a UK tour with London band Theme Park that saw them get their first taste of playing to the UK audience, and as the band said themselves, it is “like they are starting from square one all over again”. The venue for the gig was The Deaf Institute, a Whelans sized venue just off the Oxford Road in the centre of Manchester, which by all accounts actually used to be an institute for the deaf and is now a music venue, the irony of which I’m sure was not lost on everyone in attendance.

The first band of the night was The Tapestries, a local Manchester band who seemed to have brought a good crowd with them. The four-piece sounded remarkably tight as they flew through a set of solid indie rock tunes that had elements of Weezer, Vampire Weekend and a hint of Janes Addiction, with frontman Liam having a similar vocal stylings to The Cure’s Robert Smith. The band impressed with a tidy performance but as good as they were, it would have been nice to hear a bit more uniqueness in their music.

The next act of the night was tour co-headliners Theme Park. Not getting a chance to check them out before the gig I didn’t know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised. The band is a funky, laid-back five-piece whose sound reminded me of mellow Friendly Fires or Bombay Bicycle Club. The band’s frontman really held the stage well while the rest of the group went about their business. They seemed to go down well with the crowd and as the set went on more people filtered in from the smoking area to check them out.

In between the sets we got a chance to check out the venue a bit more. Stage left was a full bar with a numerous old stereo speakers on the wall above it, stage right was a balcony section for about 25-30 people and unusually behind the main dance floor was bleacher-style seats that could hold about 50 people. Most impressive though was the giant disco ball above the dance floor that spread light all around the venue, and coupled with the smoke machine gave the venue a great atmosphere.

Cast of Cheers came out to a warm reception, and it soon became clear that there was some fans in the house when their first song of the night, new track ‘Trucks at Night‘ was greeted with cheers. The crowd was a lot smaller than the band had been used to playing in Dublin just a few months before but this did little to dampen their enthusiasm as the smashed out another new track ‘Building Blocks‘, followed by their latest single ‘Family‘, which I’m thankful to say is as good live as it is on record. The band had told us beforehand that the set list was mostly tracks off their forthcoming album and they continued in this vein with new tracks ‘Human Elevator‘ and ‘Animals‘ which I’m happy to report sound more than a match of the tracks on the first album ‘Chariot’. Speaking of which, next up was ‘Auricom‘ and ‘I Am Lion‘, which sounded as good as ever and the band finished with new track ‘Pose Mit‘. As ever it was a whirlwind performance from the Swords lads, and judging by the response from the crowd they are going the right direction in UK. Lets just hope they don’t forget about us back home.

Setlist

Trucks at Night (New)
Building Blocks (New)
Family (New)
Human Elevator (New)
Animals (New)
Auricom
I Am Lion
Pose Mit (New)

Images supplied are fan photos and not from normal photographer. Apologies if any are of a poor quality.