We are Scientists

Upon walking into the packed out and sweaty Manchester Apollo I decided to do something that I very rarely do at gigs, and that was to sit upstairs on the balcony seating. Worming my way through a very fashionable and excitable crowd, I managed to find a seat on the front row and was pleasantly surprised to discover that I had an excellent view of the stage, and felt quietly smug as I saw the hundreds of people below me squirming in the heat and edging their way forwards into the immensely packed abyss.

Suddenly, the auditorium was filled with the sounds of “Against all Odds” by the 80’s legend Phil Collins. I double checked my ticket, looked at the people around me and the faces of “What the hell is going on?” but nobody moved. Settling my attention back to the stage, during mid chorus I could see three figures wander onto the stage greeted to a thunderous applause. Yes, it was We Are Scientists. And yes, they were covering Phil Collins. The crowd erupted into laughter as lead vocalist Keith Murray took to the front of the stage belting out “Take a good look at me now Manchester!”

Opening with such a unique and valid attempt at humour, I eagerly anticipated the rest of the set. The trio looked lost on the vast stage of the Apollo, with no extravagant set to boast of apart from a few sheets of material hung at the back of the stage. Launching straight into their album, which has swept across the UK music scene rapidly in the last year and acquiring a fierce fan base, the band held their own against the vortex of sound the Apollo has to offer, with Murray’s voice reaching the right notes in the right places.

“Nobody move, Nobody get hurt” was a welcome appreciation midway the set. Whilst the songs individually are enjoyable, together as a set they tend to mesh into one another and I felt that for any person attending who didn’t own the album, then the set may have illustrated a lack of originality. However, hits such as “It’s a hit”, “This scene is dead” and the most known “The great escape” caused the crowd below to create a huge dance off and were thoroughly energetic to watch, sounding better than they do on CD by far.

Playing to the largest crowd of their career so far technical hitches were inevitable, and these were shown through a disconnected Base amp in which banter was exchanged with the crowd and at one point, Murray’s microphone seemed to just switch itself off through a vital point of a track. Despite these faults the set progressed and more beer was drunk, perhaps to calm their nerves against a raucous crowd or simply for distraction purposes.

We Are Scientists Vs Manchester Apollo. With a set holding just over an hour, and another genius cover version of Boyz II Men’s “The end of the road” as an encore (including backing singers) this was not the most practiced or professional gig but it was damn right enjoyable and kept my feet moving.

FUTURE GIGS