Gigs: As Everything Unfolds with Lake Malice & Tropic Gold, at Manchester Academy, Manchester

Gigs

17 Sept

As Everything Unfolds have kicked off their headline tour with an appearance at Burn it Down festival, before descending on Manchester Academy 3 with support acts Lake Malice, and Tropic Gold. This tour was already white hot following their release of latest album Ultraviolet. There are few club concert lineups that could boast as much strength as this. Here’s our experience of the night:

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Tropic Gold

The opening act for this leg of the tour would consider themselves less of a show, more of an ‘experience’. That’s the phrasing that London outfit Tropic Gold have been using in the lead up to the new EP What a Wonderful Experience, due out October 6th. These lads may well have been enough firepower on their own as a support. They boasted an incredible atmosphere during opening track ‘ADRENALINE’. Fans of bands like Trash Boat, Holding Absence & Caskets, these have that same energy with bill of tracks from last years DO U FEEL IT? EP ‘pretty stranger’ and ‘if u wanna go’.

The group definitely carry themselves with a level of composure and presentation. The modulation over the vocals and great melodic lyrics gives them chart rock appeal and almost Bring Me The Horizon-like edge. All that feels on the verge of exploding during ‘Maniac’ and 2021’s ‘Breathe’. Although sandwiched between them is excellent track (and oldest of the set, 2020) ‘Outta My Head’. This gave Tropic Gold’s set that one moment, the request “Grab the person next to you” was that bit different that it made for an especially memorable tune.

The final track of the set, best of the bunch to describe their mission statement, was ‘DTTTH’. Standing for “Don’t Take This To Heart”, this is the most recent release, as in, it dropped that day. This was very easy to listen, all the element described of other songs, this was them at their most polished. Keep 6 October in your diary, and “DTTTH” when Tropic Gold kick some ass in their upcoming What A Wonderful Experience EP.

Lake Malice

Second support act Lake Malice were only announced for the tour around two weeks ago. Their addition to the tour poured some propane on the nights proceedings. Vocalist Alice stormed the stage to kick things off with track ‘Magic Square’ followed by ‘Power Game’ and ‘Black Turbine’. Wrapping these three songs in a package so early in the set says a lot about the versatility of the act. ‘Magic Square’ leans on Blake’s frenetic on work on guitar and Alice having some excellent clean and harsh vocals. It’s very “rave in a horror movie” to begin with, before then turning more dramatic with ‘Power Game’ and ‘Black Turbine’. Still very heavy, these show more clean vocals from Alice, who performance wise looks in borderline anguish on stage.

Egging the crowd on all the while, ‘Creepers’ is where things come apart. The crowd come alive when this song drops in, and persist during the more melodic sections. I’ve never seen this song miss the mark in a Lake Malice set. This was no exception. The energy that ‘Creepers’ brought into the fold gets picked up on on stage as well. A pit just showed the signs of closing at the end of the last song and Alice was having none of it. They say it needs to stay open between songs and for the rest of the set, and the crowd should use that energy. The only track that could follow advice like that is ‘Bloodbath’. While only dropping in May on spotify, it’s been getting playtime throughout 2023 and has slipped into the set as a favourite. Going from the fan favourite, to personal favourite, the set winds down with ‘Stop the Party’ before ending on ‘Blossom’. The run of songs going from their newest to ending on one of the OG tracks goes down a treat. ‘Stop the Party’ always has this sense of a pending explosion when played live. ‘Blossom’ then drills that feeling into the ground, there’s very little left for the crowd to give and it’s never a bad time.

We need a Lake Malice headline tour.

As Everything Unfolds

From the moment the band stepped on stage one by one, the energy in the room was electric. It only makes sense that they would open the show with the title track from Ultraviolet. The way this track drops in was heavier than expected, and Adam Kerr’s work on the guitar live is very commendable. The crowd bellowed the lyrics back in the chorus. As an opening performance, this was spectacular.

They maintain that precision in ‘Slow Down’ which gives things a much heavier feel. But they also sweep the crowd right back up the live debut of ‘Saint or Rogue’. Alternating between heavier and more melodic songs like this makes a great setlist. Again, that versatility showed with ‘Blossom’, Jamie Gowere‘s drumming during this track shines through. 1/3 through the set, Charlie let’s the crowd know she actually has laryngitis, which makes it all the more gutsy a show. It’s also the first time we hear anything that wasn‘t part of Ultraviolet with 2021’s ‘Hiding From Myself’. Knowing Charlie was ill whilst performing this on made it all the more raw to experience. It also shows the development of the bands sound; you can see flecks of the Ultraviolet themes, now it is way more polished with the new release.

They return to the new album for a moment with ‘Flip Side’. This tune left no evidence that Charlie is suffering with laryngitis as they go hell for leather on vocals here. They’ve also been playing this throughout 2023 since touring with Enter Shikari in March. A return to their older material is on the cards after that, with the trio of ’Take Me There’ ’Greyscale’ & ’Wallow’. These have all been in healthy rotation on the setlist since debuting in 2021, which Charlie mentions is a important year for the groups history. 2021 was the last time they’d played Academy 3, as the opening act for Holding Absence. For them to now headlining it, presumably sold out (last post said there were 20 tickets on the door) is a huge to them.

AEU have the crowd invested in them on a personal level. There’s a connection on a great level for what is still a younger band on the scene. Thats what makes ‘Twilight’ and ‘All I’ve Ever Known’ go down a treat, both songs get dedicated to friend of the band, Ryan, and people we’ve lost in the last two years, . You can gauge how much a band is on their way up by the times they don’t even need to ask the crowd to sing along. AEU are definitely on their way. As much as the lyric ‘This is my life, this is my time’ seems to fit AEU’s current hype, the real highlight is ’All I’ve Ever Known‘. The brief “Let’s pick that back up again” before they start playing this one sets the crowd off, it’s hard to argue that intensity ever actually dropped. Anyone who thought the two-step had gone extinct, it made a rare appearance in the crowd as they wrap up the track and walk off stage.

Not fooled by it, the academy crowd chant for another tune, but they’ve got two for us. They ask Manchester for that last bit of energy and invite the crowd to sing along as they play ‘Felt Like Home’. Late in the day, the crowd are a sea of clapping hands and sing “It’s only ever felt like home to me” louder each time Charlie says ”your turn”. AEU commend the crowd for being amazing on an opening night and that it'll be a tough one to beat. This draws a self indulgent “Manchester” chant, but As Everything Unfolds does make it feel like this is part of something bigger. They joke about “playing that one song” before ending the night on obvious crowd pleaser ‘On The Inside’. As much as the ‘play that one song’ joke went down a treat, this is an absolute anthem for them. By far the most captivating part of the set, and they take the customary photo with the crowd and leave.