With songs that are relatively simple in structure I wasn’t overly excited for NOBRO’s performance, but their energy and stage presence makes them a band you won’t want to miss out on hearing live.
If you ever want to stir up a crowd, call NOBRO. Vocalist and bassist Kathryn McCaughey is the ultimate hype woman. Screaming ‘I’m not dead’ on the floor during ‘Don’t die’, it’s clear that the band isn’t capable of giving anything but 100% to their performances.
Songs like ‘Eat Slay Chardonnay’ seem a bit awkward when you’re listening to it in your room alone, but once you’ve got an entire whole crowd shouting ‘Chardonnay’ the whole thing just makes sense.
Hailing from Canada NOBRO has the spunky vocals and catchy riffs (courtesy of guitarist Karolane Carbonneau) you’d expect, but what sets NOBRO apart from any other all-female punk band is their percussion. McCaughey wasn’t exaggerating when she claimed the drummer Sarah Dion will “go down in history as one of the best drummers in the world”.
‘Marianna’ from the band’s 2020 EP Sick Hustle and ‘Bye Bye Baby’ from Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar were the obvious crowd pleasers but McCaughey managed to stir up an interest (and a lot of clapping to the beat) for the entire set – quite a feat.
But why stop at insane drums when you can also have bongos? I love the way NOBRO think and honestly I’m shocked there aren’t more bongo solos in the scene right now. Once you’ve heard Lisandre Bourdages’ bongos you’ll never go back.
It’s not often that the first supporting band will get a mosh pit, but NOBRO’s energy and the fact that PUP fans are eager to go wild created the perfect storm. In contrast, the slower, almost ethereal instrumentals and angelic vocals from the next band Pom Pom Squad left a lot of the audience restless.
The star of the American Indie-rock/ grunge band is Mia Berrin, gracing the stage in an outfit I can only describe as ‘straight from High-school prom’ – an aesthetic that’s carried across all of their music videos and album art.
Berrin’s ability to switch from sultry and smooth vocals on ‘Cherry Blossom’ and ‘Baby’ to full on screaming in ‘Heavy Heavy’ is astonishing. Smoke rolling across the stage adds to the ethereal and high-school-drama cinematic vibe of the performance.
The best way I can describe Pom Pom Squad’s sound is dream pop that gets gritty. As someone who loves screaming and shoegaze Pom Pom squad create almost the perfect mix of sounds and feelings.
Was I in awe? Did I love it? Yes and yes. Sadly I just think the slower vibe after such an energetic opening act wasn’t appreciated as much as they should have been by a crowd thirsty for their favourite tracks from PUP’s newest album The Unraveling of PUPTheBand.
I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve never seen a mosh pit as big as the one for PUP. Granted, I haven’t been to too many extremely heavy gigs, but there was hardly anyone in the O2 Ritz that wasn’t going wild for ‘Kids’ and ‘See You At Your Funeral’.
Lead vocalist Stefan Babcock summed the atmosphere up nicely himself, saying “This feels like a basement show with a thousand friends”. This was PUP’s biggest show they’ve ever played in Manchester, and the elbows I took to the face on the edge of the pit shows just how well they’re loved here.
You wouldn’t know from their performance that the band has been on tour for seven months now. They’re still giving their all to every song in the set. After opening dramatically with ‘Four Chords’, the rest of the setlist was high energy hit after hit after hit.
The band did say that some of the craziest shows always seem to happen in Manchester but honestly I can’t imagine a PUP gig being anything other than wild and pure (slightly violent) fun.
As if the energy wasn’t reason enough to see PUP live, the guitar solos and tasty instrumental extras make it worth splashing as much cash as possible to experience them live. At one point Stefan Babcock played a guitar behind his head – which would have annoyed me if he hadn’t been so damn good at it.
A personal highlight for me (and something you probably won’t hear anywhere else) was the extended guitar solo after ‘Matilda’ which genuinely made me emotional. PUP are a must see live. No ifs, no buts (protect your face from elbows though).