20 Years of Troublegum

Therapy and Lonely The Brave

April 3rd, 2014

Academy 2 Manchester

When it was my birthday earlier in the year my little sister couldn't decide which tickets to get me as a present so she got me two sets, so tonight we went to Manchester to celebrate my birthday (a little late).  Over the next two weeks two bands that we have been listening to for a long time are touring and because my sister is indecisive tonight we are seeing the first one of them, Therapy? 

Supporting Therapy tonight are a band called Lonely the Brave, a five piece band from Cambridge.  These guys had a good old fashioned rock sound to them, very much in the same vain as the band they were supporting, however as much as I enjoyed them there were a couple of things that struck me as odd.

Firstly, the singer did not take centre stage, this place was filled by the lead guitarist, instead he stood off to the back of the stage by the drum kit.  He also never made eye contact with the audience during their set or spoke directly to the audience apart from a single word of thanks at the end of the set.

Although he had a fantastic strong voice his body language said the opposite.  Throughout the set he held onto the hem of his shirt with a clenched fist, letting go only to take a drink during the instrumental parts.  He also looked as though he had his eyes closed the entire time and never faced the audience directly, favouring standing sideways on to them throughout his time on stage, giving the impression that he was either extremely nervous or anxious about the whole performance.

Luckily, their music had the strength to redeem them of this distraction and they delivered a high energy full on rock set, before handing over to Belfast rockers Therapy?

Tonight's show was billed as the 20th anniversary of Troublegum, Therapy?'s 4th studio album, so as many bands do when the celebrate a milestone like this they played the Troublegum album in its entirety, treating us to favourites such as 'Stop It You're Killing Me', 'Nowhere', 'Isolation' and my personal favourite 'Die Laughing'.

After a short break Therapy? returned to the stage and announced that they would like to keep with the older songs for the night and had chosen a few songs from their early discs and EPs. Treating us to a selection of songs including 'Evil Elvis', 'Accelerator', 'Potato Junkie' and a cover of Judas Priests' 'Breaking the Law', they had the audience engaged and in the palm of their hand throughout the show.

The whole room had an amazing energy whether you were in the manic circle pits, crowd surfing or on the side lines bouncing along, you couldn't help but join in.

My only  fault with their set was that there was a lot of strobe lighting used but no warning signs for it anywhere in the venue.

After last night's performance it is easy to see why Therapy? are still going strong and still selling out venues after 25 years in the business.