FROM the pub-circuit to the Victoria Warehouse, Catfish and the Bottlemen continue to sell out bigger venues as they returned to Manchester for their current tour, on the back of the new album, The Ride.

Playing their second of three-night, sell-out shows at Victoria Warehouse, formerly known for holding The Warehouse Project, Catfish and the Bottlemen did not let their fan base down.

Arriving at the venue, the queues built up to an organised mess, with ticket scanners refusing people that did not have ID that matched the ticket name to being frisked and having staff with sniffer dogs ambling around and standing in the middle of the flow of people.

Once in, the queues at the bar, as expected, were horrendous (as at any gig) but staff were sweating in order to keep the people’s liquid levels happy. Unfortunately, alike most venues now, drink prices were extortionate.

Waltzing on stage around 9pm to The Beatle’s song, Helter Skelter, the lights came on and the crowd erupted into a sea of noise and flailing arms.

From start to finish, front-man Van owned the stage and the audience was fixated at his bouts of energy, running all over the stage and clambering on to the drum set to strum out on his guitar.

Although his stage presence is undeniable, Van as a front-man doesn’t seem to speak much in order to connect with his audience.

He does throw a “Thank-you Manchester” for buying both albums and for being in attendance, to his wailing fans now and again and introduce the odd song, which appeared to be the only down side to the performance.

The best atmosphere was from songs off their debut album, The Balcony, such as; Pacifier, Business and Cocoon.

The crowd erupted into into many mosh pits, drinks and inflatable alligators’ flew through the air, as well as one person being being holstered up in the air by his friends in a flattering attempt and grab Van’s attention.

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The most intimate part of the night was throughout the song, Hourglass. 

This is a lot slower tempo than some of the other songs from both their albums, but none the less had the crowd were emotionally engaged, thrusting their arms around each other and belting out the words whilst swaying along.

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and the night did around 10.30pm with fans continuing the bouts of mosh-pits throughout the final song, Tyrants, in a final burst of energy.

By Talicia Marsh

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