Live: Yawning Man in Manchester

Looking back (probably too) many years, living in the UK and getting to see Yawning Man often seemed like a mirage. Many hours of time and travel have gone under the belt over the years, but as time has moved on and Desert Rock hero’s hitting a rich vein of form lately, I kind of expect to see them play the UK at least once a year. And after last night I can honestly say that they just get better and better.

After 4 hours of traffic hell covering close to 170 miles I manage to just get to the venue as the band are tuning up. Again, a decent rabble of the weird and wonderful turn out in the usual Mancunian summer rain, with them all knowing they made a better choice than the 50 thousand down the road watching Metallica.

I have managed a couple of full listens of “Macedonian Lines” which I’m halfway through trying to review and knowing how good it sounds, live they should be a real treat.

With Bill Stinson back behind the drums, keeping the chemistry going with Gary Arce and Mario Lalli, “Macedonian Lines” kicks of the evening with its guitar that elevates and takes you to places above and beyond and the familiar live jam of the desert takes over. “Melancholy Sadie” follows with such an awesome baseline that helps expand the track and it builds and builds into one of those spine tingling moments already.

“Skyline Pressure” starts off with that hypnotic baseline that hooks you in and carries you away, followed by two more new tracks, “Bowies Last Breath” crawling along with the drums and such a good baseline that compliments Gary’s guitar that dances and slides all around it, unlike anything other bands can do, and “I Make Weird Choices” that dips and roles and glides in that classic Yawning Man style.

“Ghost Beach” follows and stands out as such a magical and float away sounding track which is deservedly a song that’s always on their set list now.

“The Black Kite” roles in and lifts the crowd towards another level, sounding better than ever live.

After a few technical issues with Gary’s pedal board, most of it is disconnected so that the show can go on, and on it does with the final 15 minutes of the meandering “The Revolt Against Tired Noises”. Again, as a 3 piece playing in harmony with everything melting together. With this, the night drive back home didn’t seem so long.

With the band already hitting their groove and this being show number 5 of a huge European tour, if you’re seeing them in the next few weeks, you’re in for quite an evening. Hopefully the recording of the show does it some justice.