Ahead of this jaunt round their native land, Manchester’s premium purveyors of contemporary prog had threatened that if attendance was anything like that on their previous outing, it would be their last UK tour. It was no rock ‘n’ roll strop, but simply a reflection of the economics of art: they’re an independent act and self-funded. But the cost of artistic control is hard graft and a need to make operations financially viable, and while they may shift more units at home, their shows on the mainland, especially in Germany, are far better attended.
On arrival, I joined a small herd of journos loitering in the lobby: the list had failed to reach the venue and the guy on the door was at something of a loss. Thankfully, just returning from a cig break, Sel and crew waved us all in, no questions asked, confirming the popular opinion that Amplifier aren’t just a great band, but are decent guys to boot.
I arrived downstairs to the sight of a bearded man stamping and flailing around with an acoustic guitar in the middle of the floor, singing his lungs out, completely without amplification. The punters were standing in a circle around him, a blend of bemusement and amazement on their faces. Charlie Barnes has certainly evolved since the last time I saw him supporting the same band back in 2009. Back then, he delivered a slightly shambolic set of loop-pedal creations interspersed with some terrible patter. While he’s still using his loop pedal and intersperses his songs with chat, he seems a lot more comfortable, humorous and genuinely affable. His material, too, is a lot more coherent and tightly played. Reminiscent of ‘Bends’ era Radiohead, not least of all in his vocal stylings, Barnes builds layers of vocal harmonies over his self-made guitar parts that multiply and overlay one another. His compositions show a developed maturity and Barnes demonstrates restraint and a sense of subtlety in his textured layers of sound,. The set builds to a dramatic climax, with Barnes emitting a series of maniacal screams and descending into the earth’s core as he’s engulfed in a pall of red smoke.
Waiting to be served at the bar, I almost emptied my bowels when the drum kit was soundchecked. It wasn’t just the volume of the kick drum, but the colon-shuddering vibrations.
As they began their set with an enticing and ghostly ‘Mary Rose’, it was immediately apparent that Amplifier would certainly live up to their name: the volume was suitably immense, matched by crystal clarity and a truly dazzling light show. But despite the welter of noise from the three-guitar assault courtesy of Sel, former Oceansize guitarist Steve Durose who’s found himself a very suitable home following the demise of his former band, and Charlie Barnes, who also covers synth duties, it’s all held together by a thunderous bass and superlative drumming that’s crisp and tight and cuts through it all brilliantly. This isn’t small venue sound, and Amplifier don’t play like a small venue band.
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They immediately stepped things up a notch with ‘The Wave’ before a rapid transition into ‘Interglacial Spell’. If the old power trio lineup had been solid, then the new five-piece touring lineup really does accentuate both the layered sound of the newer material while adding even further density to their high-velocity sonic mass.
In light of the fact that the new album, ‘Echo Street’ has only been out a week, they do the job of promoting it with a light hand, dropping just a handful of tracks from it into the set (the meanderingly epic ‘Where the River Goes’ makes a perfect conclusion to the main set). During the course of a two-hour set that absolutely flew by and was rapturously received, not least of all by the hardcore packed into the first four rows or so, they treated us to a selection that drew substantially on ‘The Octopus’ and their eponymous debut. ‘UFOs’ makes an appearance and a blistering rendition of ‘Motorhead’ explodes around the mid-point. ‘Panzer’, too, lived up to its name.
The encore may be a formality, but on returning to the stage, Sel bemoaned the abysmal sound on-stage. Maybe it was the in-ear monitors to blame: there was no space on the stage for wedge units on account of the staggering array of effects pedals, so numerous as to warrant a tour bus all of their own. No matter: the sound out front was brilliant, and skipping ‘Matmos’ that was on the set list they launched into a full-throttle version of ‘Airborne’ that was nothing short of a sonic supernova.
Here’s hoping they’re back, and soon.
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