Spring Offensive - Live at Night and Day, Manchester
Saturday, 07 August 2010
Written by Adam Simpson
Oxford five piece, Spring Offensive, played Manchester’s Night and Day on Friday 6th August. The penultimate show on their small, self funded tour of the country, which has seen them supporting and opening gigs as far north as Newcastle.
They opened the night with a 30 minute set of dark, intense music, which definitely impressed the intimate crowd and rocked the small Manchester venue.
Playing an indie style rock music that is dominated by the group’s dark, intense lyrics, they performed a fantastic set which had all the thrashing energy of metal and softness of folk. Up and down, from deep aggressive anger to gentle serenity, the group played music which definitely provoked thought and although touched on some pretty off-the-wall subjects, such as eating the contents of your wallet and getting stuck down a well, they managed to bring you down to earth and somehow make you feel very fragile.
Lucas, the groups lead singer becomes absolutely lost in the music, he has fantastic vocal talent but also an amazing stage presence and the ability to offer sincere rage and sadness, both through his vocals and also his visual presence. The rest of the group are no slouches either, the drumming was excellent, the bass very warm and up front and the sound from both guitar players was fantastic, offering huge, thrashing riffs and sensual, gentle picks.
It is the lyrics that truly impressed me though and the way they are presented. They are sensational and extremely dark, controlling the flow of each track as the musicians play to emphasise each topic, which does upset the musical flow a little. The tracks are a little too up and down, but so what. These boys rock!
The set was void of a bad track and the epic, 14 minute long, The First Of Many Dreams About Monster’s is incredible, although it eats up half of the set, it is in essence five tracks fused together seamlessly, each talking about a different cycle of grief.
Bewildering, shocking and quite amazing. There may be a couple of musical flaws that need polishing off, but every musician within the group can definitely play, the vocal range and energy of Lucas is fantastic. But those lyrics - they are beyond words.
Overall a fantastic performance from a fantastic emerging group, who will only get better as their confidence and experience grows.
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