So on Wednesday 14th October, me and my best friend Ella headed for Manchester Academy to watch Circa Waves.

Circa Waves are a 4 piece indie band from Liverpool. (Formed 2013)

I first saw Circa Waves in September 2014 supporting The 1975, I’d never heard them before that. The next day I had their singles downloaded and later recommended them to Ella; she fell in love too. Some of the songs they performed as a a support act were ‘Stuck In My Teeth’ and ‘So Long’ alongside many of their early singles.

(Back to this week)
We queued outside in the cold, vibrating with excitement. Soon enough we were inside watching their support acts. The supports were The Academic and Sundara Karma that both had the audience crowd surfing and moshing before the main event.

I had listened to Sundara Karma prior to the gig and had their newest single ‘Vivienne’ on my favourite Spotify playlist. The Academic, however, were new to me; I’d heard lots of good things about them though. Personally, I thought Sundara Karma’s presence on stage was a lot more captivating. They had the stylish looks, accompanied by the long, flickable hair and rather attractive bass player. However, for me their set didn’t really suit the mood of the concert. Their sound seemed to bore the audience a bit apart from a few of their more popular songs. The Academic, on the contrary, had a better sound (more suited to Circa Waves and therefore the audience’s taste) but lacked the independent and interesting stage presence. They were standard lads, in standard clothes, with standard haircuts playing good music : but I guess that did have something special about it.

There was a short interval where ‘Are U Mine’(- Arctic Monkeys) and ‘Sticks N’ Stones’(-Jamie T) hyped the audience. During the supports we were stood directly in the centre of the audience but got crushed in between Manc lads, armed with shell jackets, shouting Manc chants so we headed to our left. Circa Waves came on and the crowd (well they were blocked out by Ella screaming, but I’m sure they did) went pretty wild.

They kicked off the ‘Young Chasers’ album with ‘Young Chasers’ itself, almost as if they’d planned it. We sung along and the beer got thrown. In fact, we screamed along and got covered in beer. But it was worth the stubborn smell and sore throat.

One thing that stood out was what lovely lads Circa Waves were and how much they cared about their fans as well as how grateful they were, it was obvious from the start. Kieran (lead vocals) also cared for his mum, who was stood on the balcony, which is always a good sign (he dedicated ‘My Love’ to her for her birthday and we all waved). They played most of their songs off the standard album as well as some deluxe album songs and were on stage for about an hour and a half.

After the penultimate song, ‘Get Away’ (one of my favourites), they made a quick exit. We thought it was just tension building. We were wrong. They arrived back on stage to announce that Colin (drums) had broken his wrist. But he carried on for the finale of ‘T-Shirt Weather’ with his blue, quick fix bandage.

It was over 🙁

We all left, but it wasn’t the end. Oh no, the R. Kelly anthem ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ came on. Hell yes. That’s how to end a night. So naturally we all dragged ourselves out “singing our lungs out” (get it?) to that belter.

Such a good night. Amazing music, people and atmosphere.

I’d recommend their music to anyone who wants a happy band with a rough around the edges lead singer and catchy and clever guitar work (but an excessive amount of “ooh”ing and very similar sounding songs, it works for them though).

Ace gig and Manchester were acknowledged as the best audience and were mentioned as a special place to them to play as it always sells out first (better than their “unbeatable” Brixton gig).

SET LIST:
Young Chasers
Good For Me
So Long
100 Strangers
Best Years
Lost It
Fossils
I Can Sleep Tonight
Talking Out Loud
My Love
The Luck Has Gone
Stuck In My Teeth
Get Away
-Encore-
101
T-Shirt Weather