The Go! Team
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER-
You must have to be a right arsehole not to like The Go! Team. Like, the type of person who voted for Brexit, then emigrated to America, especially to vote for Trump and followed it up with a really, badly worded comment on a Daily Mail website article about immigration. One of them, a proper fun sponge.
So, that’s what’s running through my head, as I wait for the The Go! Team to start their set at tonight’s sold out gig here at a very packed Gorilla.
The Go! Team’s first album Thunder, Lightning, Strike brings back some wonderful memories of my early twenties. Back then, I had few responsibilities and the stamina to stay up all night; when I thought going out, out was fun. You see, in my later years I have grown to bloody love staying in.
I’ve also come to realise that this is my first live music review I’ve wrote for Silent Radio in four years. The world is a very different place to what it was in 2014, in all its Bowie-less, paying for your shit on your phone, continued gender-pay-gap glory.
The Go! Team are therefore coming full circle with me tonight – let’s take it back to 2005 and dance around like a knobhead and forgot that it all got a bit serious.
The Go! Team are go! Eight of them have squeezed onto the stage tonight, including two drum kits and mini brass section! The audience are buzzing and I’m so happy right now – stood here grinning from ear to ear like an idiot. Probably very similar to how I looked on a night out in my early twenties.
This is not simply a showcase of the new album, we have gems from across the Go! back catalogue, with sweet classics from Thunder, Lightning, Strike – such as the incredibly infectious ‘Ladyflash’ and ‘Huddle Formation’ – smatterings from Proof of Youth including ‘Flashlight Fight’ and of course numbers from their incredible new album SEMICIRCLE. My highlight of the night is ‘Semicircle Song’, it’s pure pop, I’ve got actual goosebumps; it’s a perfect feelgood song.
My hero of tonight is Nkechi Ka Egenamba aka Ninja, who provides the lead vocals and sassy raps. She conducts the crowd like an absolute pro – she’s the genuine leader of the pack, rallying the crowd into a frenzy, busting out some incredible dance moves and just generally being a bad-ass woman.
As the set comes to a close the place is bouncing – almost every person in the audience is jumping up and down. I leave the gig feeling euphoric, as I’m sure the entire crowd do too. I leave and wonder if I should try and find the after party, but then as the cold Manchester night hits my face, I remember I’ve got to get my last train and the cat needs his tea. Damm you thirties.
I’ll tell you what though, I hope in four years time I’ll still be writing about how amazing The Go! Team still are.
That’s if we all survive the next four years.
The Go! Team: Official | Facebook | Twitter
Co-founder, Producer and Presenter of the weekly Silent Radio show. Part of the Silent family since 2010.Over 10 years experience of working with national, award-winning youth charities and in the creative industries. She’s the former Deputy Director of NOISEfestival.com, Europe’s leading promoter of emerging creative talent. Here she helped secure new creatives secure massive media exposure (BBC R1, 1Xtra…), showcases at mega impressive locations (Downing Street, V&A...) and kudos from the best in the business (Brian Eno, Boiler Room, Peter Saville…).She also flies the flag for women in the media as Director of Manchester’s independent music website Silent Radio and co-Founder, Exec Producer and Presenter of the Silent Radio show on MCR.Live; Further radio includes BBC 5Live, BBC Radio Manchester, plus the odd bit of TV Production Management with international broadcast credits (BBC, ZDF / Arte, Smithsonian…), she also dabbles with playing records to people and her first podcast is currently in pre-production.Bestest gigs: Pulp, Sheffield Arena, ’12 | Micah P Hinson, Sheffield Lantern Theatre, ’12 | Dream Themes, Manchester Star & Garter, ’14 | Patrick Watson, Manchester Gorilla, ’15 | Less Than Jake, Nottingham Rock City, ‘01 | Frightened Rabbit, Manchester Deaf Institute, ’12 | The Decemberists, Manchester Academy, ‘11 | Passion Pit, Manchester Academy 2, ‘09 | Iron and Wine, The Ritz, Manchester, ‘08 | The Verve (with Beck), Wigan Haigh Hall, ‘98 | Take That, Manchester Eastlands Stadium, ‘11 |Worst gig: Fall Out Boy, Manchester Roadhouse ’05 (subject to change)
