The Revival Tour
Last night, The Revival Tour rolled into Manchester, the second date on the tour's first ever UK run.
An acoustic collaboration, the event (founded by Hot Water Music front-man Chuck Ragan) features primarily punk musicians performing solo material and a folk twist on their band's songs.
Joining Chuck for the inaugural UK run are Brian Fallon (The Gaslight Anthem), Dave Hause (The Loved Ones) and Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio).
Ragan has said before that anyone who turns up late to a Revival Tour show will definitely miss something, and that was true in Manchester.
The show kicked off with all four musicians (joined by upright bassist Joe Ginsberg and fiddler Jon Gaunt) each taking the lead on one of their own songs, an early highlight being a great version of The Gaslight Anthem's 'Great Expectations'.
From here, Dave Hause remained on stage for a great set featuring The Loved Ones material and some from his recent solo debut.
It was disappointing that a heckler on the front row interrupted chanting for Chuck Ragan, but Hause dealt with it well, mocking him and getting the crowd firmly on-side.
A brilliant version of The Loved Ones' 'Living Will (Get You Dead)' got Hause his best singalong moment, although the tone for the evening was set when Dan Andriano came on stage to join him for a cover of Joe Strummer's 'Coma Girl'.
From here, the show felt completely fluid and unpredictable, as artists came and went, joining each other for duets (both covers and each other's work).
Chuck Ragan brought his undeniable energy and power as he covered his catalogue well, including some new material from recent album Covering Ground.
The guest spots again made this, in particular when Brian Fallon reprised his roll on the album as he took over guest vocals on 'Meet You In The Middle'.
In a contrast to the bold power of Ragan's set, Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano appeared nervous at first, but settled in well.
Despite telling me earlier in the day that he would be playing slightly more material from his solo album Hurricane Seasons, Dan threw in a lot of Trio songs to make for some special moments.
The likes of 'Crawl', 'Emma' and 'Blue Carolina' blended in well with Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room tracks like 'Hallow Sounds', It's Gonna Rain All Day' and 'Hurricane Season'.
Thankfully, the crowd responded well to Dan's solo career, and were sympathetic when the smoke alarm sounded mid-way through his set.
Coping surprisingly well, Dan joked and carried on, before Dave Hause joined him on stage and said he was "on fire".
The two collaborated on 'Emma', but the best part of the set was saved for the end.
Dan rounded off his show with 'Enjoy Your Day', a beautiful track from Alkaline Trio's album Goddamnit.
It was one of the more tender moments of the show, and Dan was backed by a moderately sized but loud area of the crowd, faithfully singing along every word.
Brian Fallon played a set of two halves, initially joined by The Horrible Crowes co-member Ian Perkins for a few songs of Elsie, the band's debut.
Slower and darker than The Gaslight Anthem, songs like 'Ladykiller' sounded fantastic live, and should help hype up their eventual tour.
It seemed the crowd had been waiting for it all night, and eventually it was time for Brian to play a selection of songs from The Gaslight Anthem's back catalogue.
The likes of 'Navesink Banks' and 'Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts' went down brilliantly in this stripped-down setting.
Joined by the rest of The Revival Tour gang, Brian's set concluded with a fantastic rendition of 'American Slang' before the stage was empty for the first time all evening.
A couple of minutes later, the band returned for a 5-song encore, running around 10 minutes over curfew.
Kicking off with Dave Hause leading the musicians through the title track from Resolutions, each artist took the lead on a song, Brian Fallon finishing off the quartet of songs with a great version of 'The '59 Sound'.
As the night concluded with Chuck Ragan fronting one last song, it was clear how much this night, this tour and this music means to the artists on the stage and the fans in attendance.
In an era of the industry where a focus is on live music that we're told nobody really supports, seeing a grassroots folk show by such fantastic punk musicians was an absolute pleasure, and we'll be hoping The Revival Tour comes here again next year.
We will be posting interviews with Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause and Dan Andriano over the next few days. In the meantime, check our review of Chuck's album Covering Ground right here.
Female First - Alistair McGeorge