MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA: LONDON, UK
Manchester Orchestra
at Union Chapel in London, UK
words by Alex Cooke
Photo Credit: James du Plessis
Manchester Orchestra performed three nights of ‘An Evening with Manchester Orchestra’ at Union Chapel in Islington, London. The band played the second of these shows on the 2nd October. The setting for the show was beautiful, with the audience sitting on pews, and candles burning on the balconies. The acoustics of the show also benefited from the gorgeous high ceilings of the chapel, as singer Andy Hull’s melodic vocals reverberated through the church.
Manchester Orchestra, despite their name, are a band from Atlanta, Georgia. The band’s sound is between the genres of indie rock and indie folk, with the folk elements of their sound highlighted in this acoustic set. The band have been playing for over nineteen years, but do not show signs of stopping, as their performance at Union Chapel was as strong as ever.
The band was supported by SkyeChristy, a duo of two sisters from Los Angeles. SkyeChristy played some original songs and two covers. The first cover was of ‘Special Affair’ by The Internet, which they said they played because it was a cover they would always do in “shitty dive bars” at the start of their career. A highlight of the set was the cover of Cameo’s Word Up, which worked surprisingly well played in an acoustic singer-songwriter style.
Manchester Orchestra treated the audience to an hour-and-a-half-long set, which visited tracks from throughout their discography. Hull also shared anecdotes from other performances they’ve done, such as the first show in the UK where they were heckled the whole time. Hull also tried to get the audience to coordinate opening their drink cans together, without success. This led to people teasingly opening cans between the songs and Hull jokingly teasing them.
This chatty atmosphere was punctuated with acoustic renditions of songs. A strength of this performance was Hull’s vocals. As any good lead singer must have, Hull has an incredibly distinctive voice which has a capacity to convey intense emotion.
A highlight of the set was the songs played from Manchester Orchestra’s 2023 EP The Valley Of Vision. ‘Capital Karma’ in particular was an incredibly touching high point of the show. The EP explores themes of grief, and Hull ruminating about these topics in a church made a poignant moment. Overall the venue could not have been a better fit for the music. The expansive and beautiful building was befitting for such compelling and intricate songs. Spending the ‘Evening with Manchester Orchestra’, was an evening well spent.