Gig Review: The Fray

 

So I went to see The Fray who I've loved for years with my boyfriend. (Our first concert oooh). 

Venue:

It was at Manchester Academy One, a small intimate venue with enough space for you to swing a cat in, with a balcony area upstairs. The gig took place on September, 26^th 2014 (I know I’m a little late on the band wagon). This was the day before I was going to move back to university. We had to catch a bus home then walk half an hour it was fair to say we were knackered and had a good rest before carting all the boxes around. I had back ache during the whole gig and had to lean on my boyfriend, for the majority of it (bless his 6ft 5 cotton socks). His height helped when identifying us both in the Instagram photo they took half way through the gig. I personally prefer smaller gigs because in big arena venues the artist and music become lost due to the sheer amount of people and size.

However, the whole space is standing unless seats are put out on the balcony.  

Music:

The set was one of the best I’ve ever experienced. Due to the tour being named the ‘Helios Tour’. I thought they’d just play their new stuff and obviously the track their renowned for ‘How to Save a Life’. But no they showcased all of their material from every album they played at least three songs from each. They played my favourite song ‘Heartbeat’, which I didn’t think they would. I screamed and automatically pressed record on my phone and sang every word obnoxiously loud.

The whole band were fantastic, the use of lighting and successful utilisation of smoke added an earie edge to the ballads as Isaac Slade moved to the piano. The use of different paces in order to build up the audience after a ballad would come a more upbeat song.

The audience interaction was fantastic that good I managed to touch Isaac Slade’s hand. All of the band members were involved and the performance didn’t centre around just the lead singer. All of the members got the crowd involved by moving around the stage. Rather than being static manikins strumming on instruments. Slade’s famously gravely tone was even rougher and more glorious in person. With him having such an unusual tone to his voice I thought it would differ vastly during the live shows in comparison to how it sounds on the albums. It only sounded better and the roughness added to the sheer pain during the ballads.

Merch:

Merch was a little bit more expensive than I thought with the ticket prices being £22 with booking fees. It was the same price as a ticket for the T-shirt being £20. They didn’t have posters however they did have the thick wristbands reasonably priced at £3 (I think). 

Overall the gig was a 4.5/5. Fantastic atmosphere, vocals and audience interaction. Only problem was merch being a little bit too expensive for my tastes.

Thanks for reading,
Bekka.