Deaf Havana returned to Manchester for the first time in three years bringing two upcoming bands who sent sparks flying through the crowd.
First up was Jaws The Shark, a fast-paced indie rock band fronted by Olly Bailey. Despite being a solo artist he’s got a solid crew behind him blasting out rock with his rockstar ways and hard-hitting guitar play. With a short set, Olly brings out the big guns with his catchy tracks and addictive riffs to grab you with ‘That Feeling’. Jaws The Shark has a couple of EPs and some singles out that show a lot of potential. His latest EP Reno includes ‘Destroying The World’ which features Dinosaur Pile-Up.
Next and completely changing the mood into soft pop/electronic vibes is Khazali – working the stage like it’s his own catwalk with his majestic dance moves and soft vocals, this chap should work for Vogue. With only a handful of singles including ‘High Hopes’ so far, it will be interesting to see what Khazali produces in the future.
I’ve never seen such a vast genre spectrum from support acts, from rocking it out to pop dance vibes – it just works!
Deaf Havana put on a fantastic show at an almost sold-out venue, the Academy in Manchester. Lead vocalist James Veck-Gilodi had very little to say but what he did say was that he was so happy to be performing after the band split, leaving just him and his brother Matthew on rhythm guitar.
The show opened with ‘Pocari Sweat’ a song about the lead singer struggling with mental health issues. During the pandemic, the brothers started writing again and have a new album out The Present is a Foreign Land from which they played many songs. James also commented on the fact there were three shows in the Academy on the same night and thanked people for being with them.
The crowd were energetic and enjoying themselves, the strobes and smoke set the mood for what promised to be an amazing night. Full of energy from start to finish you can’t help but be pulled in by this fantastic band.
The first single on the new album is a deeply personal song for James as it’s about substance abuse that he struggled with for years. The album also being a new era for the band and for fans who are so glad they are back. You can tell by the way they play that so much love and hard work has gone into this album.
With a varied set list from the last couple of albums, we were given some older tracks such as ‘Worship’ and ‘Mildred’ which we were also given an encore which was fantastic as the crowd chanted for even more! Re-opening up with ‘The Present is a Foreign Land’ and ending with ‘Remember Me’.
So here’s to a new era for the band and the future which looks very bright as the sparks are flying back into the creative process of James and the passion to carry on performing again.
Words by Hollie Gent
