The Black Aces – The Takeaway Thieves – Fiefdom @ Gulliver’s, Manchester.

The Australian Rock band Black Aces have finally landed in the UK on their eight day tour, stopping tonight at Gulliver’sManchester.

Fiefdom

Kicking off the start of the night are Manchester’s own, Fiefdom. The first thing to say about these guys is that they don’t sound anything like how they may look, so don’t jump to conclusions straight away at all! The lead vocalist has a pitch range that you expect to come from Sebastian Bach, the huge hit of classic rock in his vocals is insanely hard to ignore and the levels he can take it too was a huge surprise. The lads just look like you’re typical guys that you would see walking down the street, and you wouldn’t think at all that they can play it like a classic rock band waiting to get onto the sunset strip. The bassist has a great stage presence, it took a couple of songs to see it come out of him, but as soon as they we’re further into their set he let himself go, joined in with the crowd, slaying solos, throwing the guitar up in the air the whole lot. Their guitarist can play a solo! He gives it his all throughout the entire set and knows how to do so, whereas his stage presence didn’t standing out as music as the bassist, he still gave it his all and got more comfortable as time went on. The lead vocalist as much as an incredible voice he is, the stage presence was very meh, and its more noticeable when your other band members are running around and putting all eyes on them.

But honestly the sound was great, and perfect for any classic rock fan that might want to visit some new bands that have the sound that they love. Give them some more time and the confidence will come to them naturally.

The Takeaway Thieves

Now is another Manchester own band, The Takeaway Thieves. This is a mix & match band when you look at them at first glance, they definitely grab your attention from the lead vocalist’s feather headband, but also by the amount of stumbling that happens with them getting on the stage. With a four pack of beer hanging from their manager’s fingertips as he helps them set up, it’s obvious why and this makes an interesting start to an interesting set.

They’re an interesting group of guys with a pretty interesting sound to say the least, the front man looked like he was throwing out some indie, with the guitarist and bassist throwing in all sorts of punk and classic rock.

They kicked off their set in top gear, jumping into each and every song quite literally, the spin kicks were literally swinging, the band’s energy is just let’s face it crazy as hell, it’s a small stage and they’re moving as if it’s triple the size. They have the energy and the sound is fairly decent, heavy bass and slow satisfying guitar solos merge well together, like a power ballad. Just because they might want to be aware of the wires next time they skip and stumble all across the stage, the high pitched screech coming from the speakers after a miss footing might have messed up my hearing for the next day.

Other than the mishaps and being fairly drunk on stage, the guys’ sound was decent, their vocalist’s voice is edgy and he has the sass to match with it, they’re a fun act to watch just keep an eye on how they move.

The Black Aces

The band of the night have arrived, all four members climb onto the stage holding a can of fosters each, in true Aussie style. Their guitarist sports an interesting style, bald on top and long flowy hair around the sides. With a slight microphone delay at the start they kicked into a full thirteen song set, starting with Roll. The room is a lot more filled out now and the bass is slamming through the speakers. It could honestly shake the glasses on the tables. They have an amplified sound of traditional Punk with a splash of comedy thrown in there in between songs. It’s like being at an old punk gig, the dodgy looking upstairs ‘venue’, over the top red lights and four men throwing their unusual styles around the place like they couldn’t care less. Some sporting the typical rock vibes of all black clothing, the frontman walked on in a bright yellow top making him stand out from all the rest.

Anywhere comes in next followed by Too Young. The lads have a sound that reminds you of a slightly edgier and rougher AC/DC, with their wild humour mixed in cracking jokes about random drinking stories they’re the most relatable rock band that I can throw out there. Not only did they kill the performance, and if the crowd came to life a lot more it would have had more of an atmosphere, but they played each song like everyone meant everything! They take a moment to introduce the band to the crowd, mostly their guitarist who is on his first trip to the UK, having only just joined Black Aces. The humour, the sound and the solos coming in at every given turn, especially any ballad they could throw in there.

Despite the very low energy crowd, it was a set that deserved energy. All four lads killed it tonight bringing in some classic Aussie rock n’ roll that the world seemed to have forgotten about. They don’t come around to the UK often so take the opportunity, and see a band that doesn’t want the old punk/classic rock to leave us anytime soon.

Set List