Review: Augustines live @ Manchester Cathedral

The Cathedral.

As venues go, this is a tough one to get past. For most bands it would merely be a gimmick. For Augustines it is possibly the perfect venue, but also possibly their nemesis. There is no doubt they can fill the space, heck, when live they can consume it. Devour every cubic foot of static history.  And they do.

The venue swells with majesty and glory. Their sound has a grand triumphalism that wonderfully seeks to fill the meticulously detailed and cavernous void with the hope-over-adversity that it is designed to bring to all who gather there. With this combination, spirituality is a very real possibility.

But the duality of the church is reflected in the duality found in Augustines, only in reverse. Where the Cathedral seeks redemption through quiet contemplation, Augustines find theirs through plaintive cries to the heavens. In contrast, the Cathedral passionately and loudly expresses its love in its every detail, by its very dominant presence. While Augustines find love in the subtlety and simplicity.

And the fear that the Cathedral’s presence as part of the show, as almost a central feature of the show, could overshadow this lighter side of their powerful live performances is a real one. A concern they seem to share, as they start big and keep big going for some time. Although when it comes to Augustines, big is good. In fact it’s better than good, it’s biblical (so sorry for the pun), it’s stunning; the crowd erupt for each song, and sing. Sing. Then sing. And sing some more. The crowd know every line of every song. Is it the band or the venue that causes such fervent devotion? ‘Chapel Song‘ stands out amongst an impressive pack, as a moment of truly powerful shared experience.

So when such powerful momentum is brought to a halt, and the lights come down, it brings with it a tension, an apprehension that the band might be about to be derailed. Yet the awesome power and simplicity of the performance of ‘Walkabout‘, and how it manages to elevate its surroundings rather than be elevated by them, is beautiful. Frontman Billy McCarthy’s voice can have such raw power, yet within a breath and a heartbeat it can become something else. Something wondrous. Truly wondrous.

And so it continues. Every song as powerful as the last, and every one as brilliant. They play everything, absolutely everything it seems. And all are embraced with true joy – when they reach a second encore and take to the crowd, as is their want, all bets are off. Covers are performed and climb walls, they share drinks with the audience and blaspheme because it’s wrong, so very wrong. Or is it right. Who can tell anymore?

It is in these shared moments that Augustines truly shine, and their sincerity is returned ten-fold. McCarthy is a man who can gush; his passionate love for an audience has no inhibitions. Yet it never feels contrived, and is always received with nothing but warmth. It is a dialogue, along with the music, that is a passionate and heated one. Moments like ‘Now You Are Free‘ and ‘Juarez‘ are brilliant, while ‘Book Of James‘ and ‘Philadelphia (The City of Brotherly Love)‘ hit hard.

Yet it turns out tonight is about two things, and neither turn out to be the venue, as regardless of its stature in this city, tonight it has been surpassed. Tonight is all about the breathtakingly beautiful ‘The Avenue‘, which shimmers within the setting and is raised beyond its own limitations by the second wondrous thing about tonight: reciprocation.

Everyone and everything is giving something back. This act of giving, giving everything, is not just coming from the band, and that is where the joy and excitement of tonight’s show truly comes from. It is a spectacular performance from both band and audience alike. That is what makes Augustines so thrilling live, as tonight they are not alone.

And that surely is the very point of a cathedral.

(Dylan Llewellyn-Nunes)