Cabbage @ Manchester Academy
-ACADEMY, MANCHESTER-
When it comes to deciding on a support band, Miles Kane couldn’t have gone for a better choice than Manchester’s own Cabbage – especially in a Mancunian venue in which their energetic, self-proclaimed ‘semi punk’ performance has the crowd on each other’s shoulders and pitting within two songs of their set. Somehow they manage to contain a coked-up cartoon persona inside of a clean cut, knows-exactly-what-they’re-doing exterior with the way they present themselves onstage; co-front men Lee Broadbent and Joe Martin both look so bourgeois with their straight off the iron pressed suits and shirts. It massively contrasts their head-vibrating, boot-thumping mannerisms as they play all the aggressive fan favourites including ‘Uber Capitalist Death Trade’ and ‘Terrorist Synthesizer’. It’s pretty safe to say Cabbage warmed up the already mental crowd for Miles Kane, almost as effortlessly as winding up a Jack in the Box.
Miles Kane @ Manchester Academy
The crowd buzzes and chants “MILES, MILES, MILES FUCKING KANE!” as multicoloured smoke rolls over their heads. Those few notes at the beginning of ‘Loaded’ begin to play and I can’t tell what’s more deafening, the crowd going off or the fact that I am stood near enough 2cm away from the speakers. Miles comes out with the keen attitude that says “Come on! Give it to me!”, or rather ‘Loaded like a weapon’ seems like an accurate way of describing the way he comes out. All guns blazing.
And just like that, he’s straight into ‘Inhaler’, and at the rate that this is going, I think he’s gonna need one with the amount of fire and vibrancy he brings to the stage. It’s almost hard to keep up with. The crowd loves it though, they’re eating it right up. There is a sense that despite the fact of there being Scouse blood on Manchester ground, they’re willing to look past it, because you know, he’s such a cool guy. Regardless of the gritty, garage rock genre that Miles has maintained for the last 14 years of his career, he doesn’t half look glamorous, a match to the style of the recently released funk-tastic album, Coup de Grace. In fact, no matter how smart he looks, there’s still that ragged ‘ladsladslads’ guy seeping through the high-end appearance.
The atmosphere is filled with emotion; it feels as though Miles Kane goes way back with every single person in here, as though the gig is a reunion with everyone. There is so much love and passion in his voice, it fills the room like thick smoke. I cannot pick out a person who looks anything near to miserable. Every person has memorised the lyrics, and is singing them right back to him as he sways on his heels with his cherry red Fender.
Miles Kane @ Manchester Academy
As if the crowd could go off any more, we hear the iconic backing vocals to ‘Kingcrawler’. You get that feeling, the sixth sense where you can tell something big is about to happen. And it does. The crowd have completely lost themselves in this song, I know I have. This track in particular reminds me of that one key plot twist scene in a film, where everything becomes clear to the protagonist. This sensation of just generally feeling a part of something big, it carries on the whole way through the show, through newer songs such as ‘Shavambacu’ and ‘Too Little Too Late’ but as well as the old yet gold such as ‘Rearrange’ and ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’, in addition to an unexpected cover of ‘Hot Stuff’ by Donna Summer (That was a nice treat, hyped up the crowd even more!).
Towards the end, the whole experience felt like it happened within a blink of an eye, as he finesses his encore with the mellow message for everyone to calm down by playing ‘Colour Of The Trap’, to then rile them right back up with ‘Come Closer’. Miles Kane has truly left his mark on Manchester this evening – the whole room chants “Coup De Grace! Coup De Grace!” as they make their way towards the exit.
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