By Georgina Hurdsfield
Creeper brought their ‘Theatre of Fear’ tour to Manchester this weekend, headlining the Albert Hall and showing off their debut album Eternity, In Your Arms. Known for bringing a ‘one-of-a-kind production’, the band made sure that this date was no exception.
To kick off proceedings, Creeper invited their UK friends Nervus to bring their melodic punk vibes to the stage. This seems to be one of the biggest tours Nervus have featured on and I think fans of Creeper will definitely welcome them back to Manchester when they support Milk Teeth on their UK tour at The Deaf Institute and various other venues.
Next up were Can’t Swim from New Jersey who offered a wave of melodic rock; they were recently featured in the Independent’s Top 20 Rock and Metal albums of 2017, and it seems like Can’t Swim are finally getting the recognition in the UK they deserve. Since being founded in 2015 they have previously toured the UK with Boston Manor and Real Friends. However, this tour opened them up to a bigger crowd and the fans at the Manchester show seemed to really enjoy them as the crowd got excited during their most loved songs, ‘Stranger’ and ‘Your Clothes’.
After Can’t Swim, came their American friends Microwave, who they have previously toured the UK with twice. It was noticeable that a lot of the Creeper fans shared just as much love for Microwave as they did for Creeper with many people from the front row singing the lyrics back to lead singer and guitarist Nathan Hardy. Microwave describe themselves as ‘kinda in between soft rock and hard rock’ and the crowd really embraced it!
Finally, headline act Creeper took to the stage. I had only seen Creeper once before supporting Moose Blood in a 550 capacity venue and I was gladly surprised with how special their stage show had developed since 2015; they had clearly thought hard about the concept of how mesmerizing their live performance was going to be. Their latest album and music videos had described the adventures of a private investigator James Scythe, who also took on the role of getting the crowd ready for Creeper as he told part of his story.
During the whole of Creeper’s set, fans actively showed their passion for the band by singing every lyric straight back, crowd surfing and cheering after every song. Nearly every fan at the gig was wearing Creeper merch which showed the extent Creeper played a huge part in many of these fans’ lives. Nothing can take away from the power of the performance as the band’s members proudly wore their branded patches on their own clothes.
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