On Wednesday night, Manchester’s usual club venue Sound Control hosted the We Talk To Live Tour, attracting around 100 teenage ’fangirls’ and their chaperone parents – not the bar’s usual crowd profile!
Combining a mixture of up-and-coming pop artists, the gig saw performances from pop/punk/rock bands Waiting for Hollywood, The Waiters and Lost in Paradise, as well as acoustic acts Nous Boi and the headliner Michael Sutthakorn.
At such an intimate venue, the stage was never far away and fans were in heaven as artists wandered through the audience, happy to take pictures.
For many of these fresh artists, this is their first tour and they’re clearly enjoying it! Waiting for Hollywood’s drummer, Daz, described touring as “the best thing ever” and Nous Boi joked that the screaming fans made them “feel like f***ing One Direction”.
The show was opened by Waiting for Hollywood, whose pop/punk vibes resembled that of 5 Seconds of Summer.
Quite a contrast to the other bands, the second act Nous Boi’s acoustic sound was refreshingly unique. A 21-year-old, guitar-playing duo originally named ‘Perry and Harry’, Nous Boi look like two younger versions of Matt Healy. They impressed the crowd with a slowed-down cover of The 1975’s hit song ‘Girls’ and ended their set with an original song ‘Last Night’ as fans sang along to the contagious lyrics.
Speaking to me afterwards, Harry said that Nous Boi are looking to move on from acoustics and enlist a backing band. The pair have also turned down a slot on The X Factor as they don’t think it will give them “the right publicity”.
Photo: @NousBoiOfficial [Twitter]
Next up were 4-piece band from South Shields, The Waiters. The drummer and 3 guitarists performed a mash up of pop songs by Little Mix, Taylor Swift and Jason Derulo as well as some original content. Although they supported Ed Sheeran last year in Newcastle, We Talk To Live is The Waiters’ first proper tour after being together for three years.
Increasing the volume of the small venue were Lost in Paradise, a 5-piece pop/rock band also from the North East. The band’s enthusiasm can’t be faulted, yet when they covered I Really Like You by Carly Rae Jepsen their punky sound didn’t quite compliment the song. Lost in Paradise followed this with an incredibly catchy original song, ‘Changes’, only confirming that perhaps they should stick to their own material.
The final act was the highly anticipated Michael Sutthakorn, an 18-year-old, Irish, Justin-Bieber-type singer who most of the excited fangirls had clearly arrived to see. Following many of his support acts, Michael also performed a selection of pop covers including Little Mix, Bruno Mars, Natalie La Rose, 5SOS and Jason Derulo. His rendition of Sean Kingston’s ‘Beautiful Girls’ was “dedicated to all you guys [the fans]” and his sweet interaction with his supporters was exemplary of a great popstar.
It was disappointing that Michael didn’t perform any original songs but the crowd didn’t seem to mind. As a young solo artist following a host of groups, Michael’s stage presence was impressive. Screams followed him as he left the stage and, unlike some of the support acts, Michael was clearly well-suited to the young fanbase in attendance.
Photo: @michaelsutthako [Twitter]
All of the performances were finished by 9:30pm which meant the acts had loads of time to graciously stay around chatting to fans – a perk of this small venue. Hopefully, with the help of a few dedicated fangirls, these new artists will be able to grow their already enthusiastic fanbases.
Catch these performers, plus more support acts, as the We Talk To Live Tour continues in London, Cardiff, Bristol and Glasgow. Tickets right here.