The Moshville Times - Gig Review: Sunset Sons / Natural Mystery Museum – Jimmy’s Bar, Manchester (25th June 2019)

Tuesday teatime and I find myself on the train again to Manchester and another new venue: Jimmy’s Bar, 5 minutes from Piccadilly and it’s a tad smaller than I expected. A long bar room as you walk in then down some steps to find another long room with a small stage in one end and a small bar alongside. Very well laid out though. Perfect for an intimate gig of 75-100 people and that’s what it looks like we’ll get as the room slowly starts to fill as the first band makes its way to the stage.

Alt-rock trio Natural Mystery Museum from London warm the crowd up with their infectious riffs and sleazy bass lines. The band have gained a reputation for their hard-hitting, frantic live shows, but are a little constrained on the small stage yet still manage to put on a great show for the throng of fans within arm’s reach. Playing tracks from the recently released EP Volume 0, the mosh ready crescendos are plentiful as the boys deliver tracks full of groove infested baselines, slick melodies and clean smooth vocals. The set was over too soon for me as I really enjoyed it and can see why they’ve ed the whole tour.

After a small break, the main band tonight, Sunset Sons squeeze their way through the now packed area in front of the stage to screams and shouts from the fans, it’s been a while since they have played in Manchester and this crowd are eager to see them. A keyboard has now appeared, and the room is starting to heat up as Rory Williams approaches the keyboard and they open with a new unreleased song “Eyes Wide Open”, before moving on to more familiar tracks with the songs being sung back almost word for word creating an amazingly intimate atmosphere in this hot basement bar tonight.

“Problems” was next, new release and first single for a newly announced album. Drummer Jed Laidlaw kept the beat tight and on point all night, while bassist Pete Harper kept rocking, hair flying, and helping on the tour is Henry Eastham who provides the guitar tonight. When talking to the crowd, Rory spoke about not taking any of this for granted, and that they’ve been absent for months due to writing and recording lots of new music. “Thank you for being so patient, we have a lot of love for you guys. It’s been a pleasure Manchester”. He then gave a hair-raising performance of “Dance Your Life Away”. His vocals haunting and clearly with an incredible range. With just his keyboard and some minor guitar backing, Rory sang each lyric with soul and meaning.

With the screaming fans clamouring for more the band came back on stage for an encore. They finished with 3 more songs and Rory leaving the keyboard and walking out into the crowd to sing the final song, before promising to be back sometime in November. With the ability to put on an awesome show full of emotional moments shared with the crowd, everyone singing back to their brand of rock in such heat, then Sunset Sons can be assured of a warm welcome again in Manchester. Both bands hung around after the show for photos and to sign merch and chat with fans, it was an intensely intimate night of alt/rock with breathtaking performances from both bands.