Boston Manor @ Key Club Leeds – (28th September 2018)

Blackpool quintet Boston Manor have been one of the most talked about bands in pop-punk circles around the UK as of recent and released their sophomore album “Welcome To The Neighbourhood” on 20th September which is fair to say has been very well received. They kicked off their UK tour the day after the release and Rocksins got to head over to Key Club to check out the sold out Leeds show.

Starting things off tonight are Wallflower (6) who play to a fair amount of people for a 4 band bill. Whilst maybe one of the more relaxed bands of the night, are still able to grab the attention of the crowd and play an entertaining set. However, not quite as attention grabbing as Albany, New York’s Drug Church (9) who come on stage adorned in the flame t-shirts that you wore to your primary school disco’s. Their energy is something else and you could have been forgiven in that half hour for forgetting that this wasn’t a Drug Church headline show, older songs like “Banco Popular” and “But Does It Work?” go down a treat as well as new material like “Weed Pin”. Drug Church stole the show tonight, no question about it. The last band to play tonight before the main event are Microwave (6) who provide a nice breather from the previous set with songs like “Stovall” but also find the right balance of warming people in songs like “Lighterless”.

By the time Boston Manor (7) come on stage, the room is at full capacity and there’s little room to move. The band begin to make their way on stage and are met with screams and cheers as they open with the title track of their latest album. Opening with the title track from their latest album, it’s clear to see that everyone in attendance has had this album playing on repeat in the short space of time that the album has been on the shelves as they sing the words back immediately. The band follow straight into “Flowers In Your Dustbin” which already sees people begin to crush up at the front with bodies bouncing in the crowd and off of the stage.

It’s obvious that Boston Manor have a lot of faith in the tracks on the new album playing 10 of the 13 songs tonight, which is quite brave seeing as the album had only been out for a week, not that this mattered as everyone was as engaged as if it had been out for months. “Bad Machine” is an earworm and you can’t help but find yourself singing the words “I’ll never say sorry / ‘Cause I’ll never be free / You float like a butterfly / You sting like a bee” long after the set is finished. Henry Cox sounds just as great tonight as he does on record which is shown wonderfully in songs like “England’s Dreaming” and the band doesn’t slip up once. Older songs don’t sound too out of place with their new direction either with their biggest song “Laika” pumping some more energy into the set. Boston Manor wrap things up with “Halo”, the lead single from We Are The Neighbourhood which sounds absolutely massive live and is sure to go down brilliantly with the larger crowd they’ll be playing in front of with Good Charlotte next year.

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