Cancer Bats – Rebellion, Manchester
On 23th September 2022 Canadian hardcore punk band, Cancer Bats, returned to Manchester Rebellion for their headlining UK tour, with Witch Fever and Graphic Nature.
The Manchester show follows their performance in Liverpool the night before, which ended early as a result of the ceiling caving in mid performance, this then resulted in many of the fans from the Liverpool show being able to attend their Manchester show!
Graphic Nature takes the stage first, four members wearing dark hoodies hiding their faces, with the front man wearing a black shirt and shorts, with his long hair hiding some of his face. They break out instantly with a heavy, aggressive sound!
They play their new EP New Skin, with moments of nu-metal agro. The crowd outside is starting to fully pile in, and the energy is bouncing!
The screams from Harvey are incredible and perfectly mix with the rest of the band.
Graphic Nature is an explosion of kinetic heaviness that sometimes goes missing from heavy music, and their incredible imagination and creativity that they throw into their performances gives them an intense personality. They even throw an announcement that they don’t accept homophobia, sexism and that people should be who they want to be! Bringing the punk show to life.
Witch Fever takes the stage next, the lights are a dark red, lead singer Amy walks on sporting black shorts and a latex top with black boots. Bassist Alex wears a long slit leather skirt with a latex corset top. Guitarist, Alisha, kept it simple with a black t-shirt and black pants. And finally drummer Annabelle, with a gray baggy shirt and white shorts.
The band come on stage with a dominating energy that tells you instantly that they’re in control and no one will stop them from taking over. With a natural punk energy, and feminism screaming out of the lyrics they Amy shouts, they are the true embodiment of modern punk! The lights are dark, the lyrics are deep, the screams that Amy produces are insane and the connection the band holds is close. Amy jumps off the stage and goes into the crowd to spread the energy everywhere.
They take a moment to say that at a previous show someone told them that politics doesn’t belong in music, before Amy carries on with saying that they shouldn’t be coming to a punk show if that’s what they believe. Hit the nail on the head.
The crowd gathers, I have a front row place with my camera which I realized, too late, that it might have been a mistake. Cancer Bats take to the stage and within seconds, and I mean within seconds the crowd is bouncing, they’re pushing forward, pits are opening and there is no chance of this stopping throughout.
They kick off with Psychic Jailbreak and probably thirty seconds into the song, I have to move out of the way before I get crushed by the crowd. They are jumping and there is no way of stopping it! The pit is open and everyone is involved.
It’s not long before people are climbing on the stage, to jump into the crowd and crowd surf, the amount of times my heart fell when I saw someone fall face first, oh my God, but like most if not all metal head crowds, they help those around them up and make sure they’re safe. They then go into Hail Destroyer, followed by Gatekeeper. Frontman Liam Cormier’s hair is completely drenched in sweat, as he sports a pair of shorts and a black jumper, Mike Peters on drums is full of high energy and Steve Harrison, in a white t-shirt and jeans, eventually the white shirt would become useless and it also gets covered in sweat. I’ve been going to Rebellion for years and seen many shows; sometimes that room can be freezing, that wasn’t the case tonight. The heat was amplified, it was intense, the crowd created the heat tonight and made that room a sauna!
Liam takes a moment to say that they’ve been coming to Manchester since the mid 2000’s and how much they love the city, even pointing out some local places that have since shut down over the years, before a member of the crowd announces “THE SALISBURY IS STILL OPEN” which cracks up the band as they notice the man is clearly a regular.
For their final half of the show, Liam brings out Graphic Nature’s frontman Harvey for a set, both of the vocals merging together perfectly, I love how the band brings out the other lead vocals from their support bands for the final half of the performance, it shows the love for the industry and for the bands they meet along the way. Now they wanted to bring out Amy from Witch Fever, however Liam makes the announcement that Amy isn’t able to perform, because she strained her vocals during her final part of her set when opening for the band. Eventually they bring out their friend Brooklyn Doran, joining Liam as guest vocals she gives it her all, and belts out every lyric with pride and passion! The two of them have an insane amount of chemistry as their vocals merge together almost flawlessly.
As Brooklyn leaves the stage, Liam jokes “She came all the way from Canada to do this! Just this one shows now she’s getting on a plane back home, she had asked her boss for the time off for this!”
Midway through their performance before they break into Sabotage, Liam takes a couple of breathers, looks around at the crowd before asking the crowd “Am I drunk? Am I fucked up? What the fuck?! 21 years of sobriety” before getting a cheer from the crowd. Obviously referring to how the insane energy from the crowd is making him feel.
I break through the safety of the sound desk before making my way to the back joining the crowd to feel what they’ve been feeling even more. I got there just in time for them to break into their cover of Sabotage by The Beastie Boys! Finally they finish with Lucifer’s Rocking Chair, and the crowd surfing returns, getting their last few minutes in to get all the energy out of their system, before a night of wildness is over!
It’s safe to say if you came from the Liverpool show the night before, this performance might have made up for the caved in ceiling.
Words & images: Lauren Allard.
