CityLife

Starsailor

ALONG with such unfathomable puzzlers as why is lager more popular than beer or why do people prefer Florida to Italy, Starsailor’s main man James Walsh must wonder why his band don’t outsell, say, the far inferior Kings of Leon.

What have they done wrong to become so unfashionable that they now have to squeeze into venues such as The Ritz?

As Walsh said at the end of another typical, barnstorming gig, “We’ll 
see you again soon, at the M.E.N. or the Apollo next time. This place is 
too small for us – we blow the roof off it.”

And he’s right. The Ritz, cute though it is, is way beneath a band 
whose rich textures and haunting melodies make them much better than Manchester rivals Oasis.

But their loss was our gain on Friday night as the small venue created the kind of visceral intensity and intimacy you could never get in an arena.

Masterpiece

Walsh, smiley and as engaging as ever, seemed to be enjoying the 
experience. Taking to the stage with his customary acoustic guitar, 
foppish hairstyle and wearing a beaded blazer, he looked like a young Ray Davies (no casual comparison) as he kicked off with Tie Up My Hands from the masterpiece album Love Is Here.

In The Crossfire followed from On The Outside before the first 
Manchester airing of the title track of new album All The Plans – buy 
it now and make Starsailor massive again, please – and its swirling 
Hammond organ sound made it an instant crowd-pleaser.

The album’s cover art of a young boy wearing aviator glasses provided the simple backdrop to the no-frills concert, which really hit its stride with the achingly beautiful Fidelity.

Starsailor classics, judiciously sequenced from every part of their 
four-album history, flowed thick and fast, with an ironic dedication 
coming with Poor Misguided Fool – “for those fans who’ve been with us from the start.”

Misguided? Not about Love Is Here, which again got the hairs on the 
back of the neck to rise and makes Wonderwall sound like a cheap, 
cheesy jingle.

Walsh loves to tease, and the encore, as well as featuring Lullaby, 
Four To The Floor and signature anthem Good Souls, saw an acoustic version of Abba’s Dancing Queen for a surreal rock Mamma Mia moment, and he even segued in a bit of the Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows.

Eclectic, surprising and uplifting music from start to finish from 
the forgotten heroes of Manchester rock’n’soul.

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