Antlers @ St Philip's Church, Salford, 20 May 2010

I think I would go and see any act on at St Philip’s Church. Seriously. Even Diana Vickers who I accidentally went to see the other night (don’t ask). Its just the most perfect venue: beautiful Grecian church, pews to sit on, and in a lovely spot just round the corner from the New Oxford and 15 minutes walk from St Peter’s Square. It certainly encourages a more reverential atmosphere, as commented on by Peter Silberman of the Antlers last night. But it does differ from mass in one important way: parishioners run a bar from a trestle table at the back, and provide a frankly better service than most bars in Manchester. They recommended Mr Noggin buy me a cider as “the wine tastes of bleach”. It’s that kind of guidance you need from a barperson.

It’s only fair to say up front that I hadn’t listened to the Antlers before that day and wasn’t sure what to expect – I was going along with a couple of fans. I’d also had a rather nice tea and a couple of beers and was half expecting to have a snooze at some point (see title of blog). But there was no risk of that with this band. They were intense from the very beginning, and worked their way through the album Hospice in track order, as it tells of a traumatic relationship with a patient dying of cancer. Silberman’s voice is hypnotic and the audience is drawn fully into the story-telling.

The mood broke only a couple of times. At one point a member of the audience asked if they were going to play Two, and they smiled and coyly said “Maybe” – surely redundant as they were clearly playing the whole album. Later on Silberman commented on how respectful the audience were, proceeding to shush the crowd when they laughed. It was a welcome break from the intensity of the music, but they were soon back into it.

The album alternates pained quiet singing with loud crashing of Silberman’s guitar and Michael Lerner’s drums. Darby Cicci hides behind a mop of hair as he provides anguished keyboard. There is a real synchronicity within the band as they play. They aren’t going through the motions, there are genuine connections made as they look to each other throughout the show.

It seems there has been much chatter around the subject matter of the album and whose story it tells. But this wasn’t the question at the forefront of our minds as we walked into the warm Salford night. We were wondering what on earth the band would do to follow that.

The next month in music

There seems to be rather a lot of interesting live music in Manchester coming up, despite the fact that we are entering the traditionally slow summer season. Here’s my pick of the best stuff:

1. Antlers @ St Philip’s Church in Salford, Thursday 20 May:
Don’t know much about this band, I’m going with a fan, but always look forward to a gig in this venue. Seeing Hurts do their debut gig here was very special

2. Jesca Hoop @ Band on the Wall, Monday 24 May:
Seeing Jesca for the second time. She was mesmerising at the Deaf Institute, her songs are like a kind of wonderful soul-folk and she has quite a stage presence. Her ridiculously good-looking backing singers were crowd-pleasers last time as I remember. Her popularity is increasing rapidly, I would expect her to be pretty well-known by the end of the festival season



3. Dot to Dot Festival, various venues, all-day, Bank Holiday Monday 31 May:
Booked tickets for this before the line-up was announced, and the first batch of bands was a bit disappointing. Zane Lowe? But things are looking up, I’m especially looking forward to Wild Beasts, Beach House, Wolf Gang and Lissie – the latter’s EP I have has on repeat for a week or so, brilliant stuff. Booked the next day off work – for the best after a bank holiday all-day session.

4. Lau @ The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, Friday 4 June:
Bit out of the area this one, but actually surprisingly easy to get to – there are regular trains to and from Victoria, and it’s nice to have a change of scene. Lau won Best Group at the 2010 BBC2 Folk Awards, and have some beautiful, more traditional folk songs.

5. Ian Brown @ Platt Fields, 11 June:
Is anybody not going to this? Have taken the afternoon off work to fully enjoy the line-up. Only mildly looking forward to Ian Brown himself, but with the park-based fun starting at 4:30pm and UNKLE, A Certain Ratio, Mr Scruff and Now Wave DJs also on the line up, I’m anticipating it to be one of the events of the summer.

Reviews to follow!