Titus Andronicus

Washington Irving is one of the Minx's favourite bands. We first saw them play in a small hall that was practically a room at The Castle pub in Manchester a couple of years ago when, after the gig, I famously asked one of the guitarists - the curly one - "What was that song that sounded like 'She Moved Through The Fair'?", to which he gently replied "That was 'She Moved Through The Fair'."

Tonight the band was playing at The Deaf Institute in Manchester, which is one of our favourite venues, supporting Titus Andronicus. (The Minx had done a bit of research on the main act and was of the conclusion that probably wouldn't want to stay to watch all of their set.) We met up with my daughter, Hannah, and our friend, Max, for a meal downstairs at Deaf - their food is excellent - and then went upstairs for the gig.

Washington Irving played a great if regrettably short set - about half an hour - but were as engaging and charming as ever. 'Electric folk' is a genre that doesn't attract me on paper but this band does it exceptionally well. My only regret was that they didn't play the aforementioned 'She Moved Through The Fair'.

At this point, I was all for returning to the bar downstairs but the Minx was adamant that we should give Titus Andronicus at least one song. Since we were all currently leaning against the venue bar, we compromised by getting another round of drinks in and waiting for the band to appear, which they promptly did, ambling on stage at nine o'clock.

The lead singer said hello and introduced the band, and their was something about his sardonic drawl, the way it was clearly underpinned by a sense of irony and humour, that made me think of Nick Cave. Indeed, there was something about his band that was redolent of the Bad Seeds. 

They started playing a slow, country/folk styled tune, over which their front man crooned mournfully and then, suddenly, about a minute or so into the song, all musical hell broke loose: pounding drums, a squall of guitar noise, a hollered vocal. I bloody loved it. And from there it just got better and better. Their love of noise - big, beautiful, cascading waves of sonic mayhem - put me in mind of the Bad Seeds, too, although TA are less... structured, I think.

Certainly there were elements of punk, rock, folk, country and all sorts of other influences stirred into their vast melting pot. They played brilliantly, though. I didn't know any of their songs beforehand but they kept me engrossed for nearly two hours. And they had a real charm, too. At one point, they stopped and spoke a bit about Manchester and its musical significance, and then they played Oasis's 'Don't Look Back In Anger'. Now that's not a song (or band) I particularly like but this version was excellent.

Suffice to say, I was straight over to the merch table afterwards for a CD and the t-shirt pictured above. What an absolute joy!