Josh Sanseri
Manchester is both the most unlikely and somehow most apt setting for a band like Lord Huron.
Their warm, worn and expansive sound – telling tales of the wilds of the world and of the heart – just seem to reflect something of this city’s personality.
Lord Huron have, in only two albums, developed a sound that is distinct and recognisable yet wonderfully reminiscent of so much that has come before. And live this is even more apparent. Tonight feels more like a confirmation of what we already suspected; everyone here already a devotee, everyone expectant of satisfaction, here to have their belief in Lord Huron’s abilities justified.
For Lord Huron however, the concerns of others are paid no mind. They are here to preach and to teach.
Preaching with ethereal beauty, resonance and a slight shuffle, they bring an additional layer of defiance and excitement to stories of a world so far away. After opening with the haunting ‘Love Like Ghosts‘ they burst into life with a powerful rendition of ‘Until The Night Turns‘ which, along with ‘World Ender‘ provides the pounding heart of the night’s performance. Ceaseless and hypnotic, it’s Johnny Cash’s fervor with a Bo Diddley-esque beat.
But this is just one dimension of the night’s performance. For each moment of power there is beauty, and for each of these in turn there are moments of reflection. Lord Huron can turn on a knife’s edge, and just as important to tonight’s performance is the thought and consideration put into the layout of the set itself. It ebbs and flows at all the right points, bristling here, bursting there.
‘Fool For Love‘ is a Roy Orbison shimmer of delight, with the youthful exuberance that only early rock and roll ever truly captured. It’s those first feelings of swirly tummy and a pep-in-you-step that can never be recaptured. All of which is amazingly contrasted by the performance of ‘Way Out There‘ which, with the wonderfully evocative use of a theremin, brings out a kind of ‘backwoods Beach Boys’ persona. This is real emotion, brought by an understanding that only comes once those swirly tummies have gone, and your heart has been cleaved directly from the cavity in which it rests. It has the raw bristling emotion of 16 Horsepower‘s ‘Nobody ‘Cept You‘, but painted on a larger pallet.
This greater scope can be seen elsewhere in the performance. The epic feel they bring to ‘Meet Me In The Woods‘ is breathtaking, transporting the audience to a specific moment in time and holding them there for its entirety. The sweeping vistas their songs paint reflect something of life in the north, which is unexpected. These are tales of real lives lived to their fullest. They speak honestly and openly about highs and lows – things that Manchester knows a little something about.
Bands such as Joy Division did this very thing, painting similarly epic and emotional portraits of human existence, only using the stark reflection of the wilderness in which they found themselves. All that’s changed tonight is the colour of the pallet – wild is wild, and reality is reality no matter where you are in the world, you just have to be brave enough to face it.
Tonight Lord Huron stand unafraid, giving a performance that feels worn in, not in a tired sense, but in an ingrained one. This is coming from deep within, it’s not some act or formality; instead it is warm and well fitting. Lord Huron passionately deliver their vision, taking the audience on a journey through the mythical wilds of the woods. Never compromising their vision or sound in search of acceptance. They are not looking for an easy path, using gimmicks or slight of hand, what they are looking for is converts. And converts they get. This is more than a performance, it is a sermon, one that cannot be dismissed.
Tonight Lord Huron lay bare their soul, and it is a vision to behold.
