A – Manchester Academy 2 14/11/18
Jason and Co propel us back to 2002 with 'Hi-Fi Serious'...
Nine years since I first saw A live. At the time it was a mini 'comeback tour' of sorts which ended up seeing them not really come back! Not really sure what the plan was supposed to be at the time, maybe they just missed touring after their last record Teen Dance Ordinance back in 2005. However, on hearing they were coming back for another tour and performing their biggest record 'Hi-Fi Serious' in full, I wasn't going to miss out. I'd only got into A once this record broke with hit anthem 'Nothing' graced the airwaves heavily at the time. I remember on hearing the rest of the album how much I loved it. One of those where you enjoy every track. Precious.
Supporting A were another couple of great bands already well established in the world of rock. Firstly InMe who are also long time musicians and had a lot of success in the early days with debut, Overgrown Eden. Tonight they had a short but sweet set list which included classics such as Firefly, Underdose and Faster The Chase. We also got to hear their new single 'For Something To Happen'. Can't wait for them to come back with their new record next year. Following InMe came Wheatus. The New Yorkers broke through with their hit 'Teenage Dirtbag' back in 2000 off self titled album. After that they went on to release four more records but I never really got into them myself. Tonight they showed a little from their back catalogue with the majority coming from their last record, The Valentine LP in 2013.
The premise of tonight's set is Hi-Fi serious in full. Now it was believed that they were going to play it front to back, in order. They even asked this on social media where the majority of people didn't seem to mind that 'Nothing' would be played first. So coming to the show tonight that is exactly what I was expecting (having checked the set list website they actually did it in proper order the first two shows of the tour). However it was actually 'Took It Away' that kicked things off which is track five on the album. The set continued in with the next 3 tracks being correctly placed. 'Something's Going On', '6 O'clock On A Tube Stop' and 'Going Down'. It's from here that the set took another twist from the album order and instead of 'Starbucks' it was 'Shut Yer Face'. One of my favourites, 'The Springs', followed with it's beautiful flowing hooks and melody. The coffee related anthem 'Starbucks' was next and this is where everyone started to get a little crazy! 'Pacific Ocean Blue' and 'The Distance' left some more memories of listening to this album growing up. The finale of the album left us with the anthemic 'Why Don't You Cry About It', self titled track 'Hi-Fi Serious' and the song that changed everything for the band, 'Nothing'. For the encore they played 3 songs from second album, A vs Monkey Kong. 'Old Folks', 'Monkey Kong' and the highly infectious 'I Love Lake Tahoe'. They finished up with a couple off debut record, How Ace Are Buildings. 'Number One' and 'Foghorn' rang out as a packed out Academy 2 signed off the night in style.
My thoughts on A have always been positive. Whether it's the connection with the fans or the music itself, they put out their positivity on stage and assume control then put it directly back in the hands of the fans. Tonight they showed how relevant that sixteen year old record is and how fresh it still sounds. Hearing a favourite album of yours doesn't come around very often if at all. I consider myself to be very lucky to have witnessed it in it's entirety even though they did play around with the order on the night! The rest of A's catalogue is very good too and although we did not hear anything off the last record, hopefully if they come back next year we will get a taste of that too. Who knows, even something new?!
*TRICK 'N' TREAT*
TRICK – 'Nothing' wrong here!
TREAT – Hi-Fi Serious in full.
Good crowd.
Mess ups and good laughs!
