Featured image: Zyanya Lorenzo
The crowd plunges into darkness as NewDad take the stage. Haze fills the room and the deep blue lights flood the venue, reflecting the aesthetic of their newly released debut album, Madra.
Cheers erupt from the sold-out room as the band rip into the grunge-filled ‘Angel’. Julie Dawson’s enchanting voice comes to life, outshining the crafted brilliance of the studio recording of Madra’s opening track. The heaviness of the guitars over their dreamy atmospherics transforms the audience into a sea of head bopping.
‘Slowly’ from NewDad’s 2021 debut Waves EP, has the faithful singing along in unison while swaying hypnotically to the gauzy indie-pop sound. The band intertwine elements of the past and present through tracks ‘In My Head’, ‘Say It’, ‘Let Go’ and ‘Blue’.
Their performance is stunning, yet is not without technical difficulties; the sound cuts out multiple times for the crowd while persisting through the band’s monitors, leading to multiple replays of songs. Dawson makes light of the glitches, quipping that the crowd is in for extended versions.
With a set already filled with standout moments comes their cover of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’. It receives a distinctive NewDad transformation with their distinctive shoegaze touch, while the set closes with ‘I Don’t Recognise You’ and debut single, ‘How’.
After a brief interlude, Dawson and drummer, Fiachre Parslow reappear for a beautiful stripped-back performance of Madra’s ‘White Ribbons’, creating the most intimate moment of the night, before the whole band reunite to deliver the album’s title track. A graceful conclusion to the show.
NewDad are set for big things and return to the city in August for Manchester Psych Fest.
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