On Tuesday night, Lewis Del Mar performed their final gig of their worldwide tour at The Deaf Institute. We send Liam Shaw along to check them out.

Off the back of the release of their debut album last month, alternative electric-urban group Lewis Del Mar finished off their worldwide tour last night in Manchester.

The New York duo have had an incredible year with their first EP only being released back in January, so it’s no wonder that there was an electric atmosphere in the venue last night.

The night kicked off with German electro-indie band Lea Porcelain perform six of their own tracks. The pair have supported Lewis Del Mar on the majority of the European leg of their tour.

Although their style of music complemented the headliners perfectly, it was a lack of cooperation from the crowd that seemed to let them down with most people sitting down or standing in line at the bar.

That being said, they gave it their all and certainly tried to get everyone warmed up for the main event with their 45 minute set.

As 8.45 approached, the room started to fill up quickly with no one wanting to miss even a second of Lewis Del Mar.

They were welcomed to the stage with huge cheers, and performed ‘Such Small Scenes’ a chilled out calm song, that set the tempo for the rest of the gig nicely.

Frontman Danny Miller, rocked out to the packed room who looked on mesmerised by his vocals. That’s thing when you go and see Lewis Del Mar, they sound as good live as they do on their album.

Their also great at playing to the crowd, asking everyone if “they had a f****** clue what was happening with the world” referencing the US election, something that the pair are very passionate about as they are often opinionated through their Twitter account.

After announcing that they’d be playing the whole of the album live, the pair went straight into ‘14 Faces’, followed by ‘Wave(s)’. The crowd sung along to the two mellow songs which only spurred the duo on further.

Working the stage and crowd confidently, the band were really getting into the swing of things and enjoying themselves on stage. Drummer Max Harwood couldn’t stop smiling for most of the gig, which was great to see at the end of their 28 date tour.

At the end of ‘Puerto Cabezas’, during which Miller decided to pick up the mic stand and dance around the stage whilst still singing, the front row were treated to some free wine that had been brought on stage, showing just how much their fans support means to them.

A little later on, they announced that it was time for “the emotional part of the show” and that it was ok to cry. ‘Islands’ was the first song that Miller and Harwood wrote together so it holds a special resonance with them.

The crowd started swaying from side to side, and there were a few people that were tearing up at the song, written about how much their ‘mom’s’ mean to them.

The band took a break from playing music from their album and covered Rihanna’s ‘Needed Me’ to much surprise of everyone in the room. The band erupted into laughter, telling everyone that they were going to play the track anyway and that the usual response has been “f*** yeah!”

Any uncertainty soon vanished however since there was a distinct Lewis Del Mar twist on the track and soon enough everyone was rocking out to the most surprising record of the night.

Everything soon returned to normal though with fan-favourite ‘Painting (Masterpiece)’ being played next. At this point the atmosphere changed slightly as everyone put down their phones to sing along and dance like nobody else was watching.

The final two songs were the highlights of the night however as Miller got off the stage and climbed onto the bar walking along and crouching down into the crowd to sing ‘Tap Water Drinking’ to them whilst an extended version of ‘Loud(y)’ was performed.

As the band made their way off stage, there were chants 15218530_10207940340093969_301133557_nfrom the fans demanding an encore.

They didn’t give up until they reappeared just a few moments later to finish a fantastic evening with ‘Memories’ and ‘Malt Liquor’ which were performed with so much energy, it looked like the microphone stand would end up falling of the stage at times.

After a quick bow and thank you, the boys nipped backstage for a brief recovery before coming back out to sign merchandise and take photos with fans.

Speaking to drummer Max Harwood after the show he said “It’s such a solid way to end the tour, the crowd was wonderful”

By Liam Shaw  
@journalistshaw

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