Mannequin live at Fuzz Box. photo: Jake Danvers
As relative newbies, Mannequin’s growing following and confidence seems to be evident at every show. As Ben Healey’s chorus-laden Gibson produced the first strains of opening track Mannequin, the room quickly filled up ready for the songs dynamic shift into an aggressive melee, overdubbed by the emotional, yet devastating vocals of Sid Ratcliffe.
As incredibly tight and well orchestrated as their more established peers, Mannequin blasted through a relatively short set, leaving an overwhelming curiosity of what else they may have up their sleeves in the months to come. The trio let their infectious brand of punk rock do the talking with a completely no frills set. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of these lot.
Bus Stop Madonnas. photo: Jake Danvers
Continuing with Fuzzbox’s no-bull ethic, power-duo Bus Stop Madonnas had no reservations in stomping onto the stage to deliver track after track of choppy garage punk. After opening proceedings with their name-dropping homage Liam Loves The Ramones, the ‘Madonnas got straight into a lively, up-tempo set of three-minute, three-chord attacks, which soon got the loveable crowd of wrong-uns dancing around like ferrets on speed.
The Fuzzbox clubnight is already finding its feet as one of the cities best truly alternative nights out, and this fact is proven when the band explode into a cover of Nubs’ 1980 hit Job. The Canalhouse revelers greedily lapped up a track that would probably have disappeared over the heads of many outside this particular building, and the 'Madonnas seemed to feed off the appreciation to wrap up a highly energetic and incredibly fun performance.
Topping-off the night was Beaumont Polydactyl spinning all of the tunes the poster had promised, delightfully accompanying the gradually deteriorating dance moves of the Fuzzbox cohorts. A truly fantastic night.
Fuzzbox with Mannequin and Bus Stop Madonnas was at the Canal House on Saturday 7 June 2014.
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