Live Review: Fucked Up - Deaf Institute, Manchester
15th March 2023
Support: Big Cheese
Words: Dan Barnes
Seeing the six members of Canada’s most confrontationally-named combo fit onto the small Deaf Institute stage confirms that Iron Maiden could, feasibly, bring a stripped down show to his venue. Unlikely that eventuality might be, the presence of Fucked Up tonight and the packed venue here to witness their performance is proof positive of a desire for the eccentric in the music-going public.
Opening the show are Big Cheese from just over the hill in Leeds and who have brought quite their own fan club on the short trip to Manchester. Their brand of Heavy Hardcore and hefty Punk has been smashing venues up and down the country for a few years now and, on the evidence of tonight’s set, the time spent playing alongside the likes of Trapped Under Ice and Turnstile has not been wasted.
Blending NYHC with UK82 with a sprinkling of Metal gives Big Cheese not only a fearsome sound but also the wherewithal to back it up. The short show is so face-ripping that I can’t recall ever seeing a Deaf Institute crowd moving so much.
The set was built around the band’s only full-length to date, 2020’s excellent Punishment Park, and laid waste to the Victorian venue like marauders from a foreign land. Alex and Joe created the foundation upon which Maegan and Louis cranked out fat, meaty riffs as Tom prowled the stage like a demonic Master of Ceremonies.
Engaging and destructive in equal parts, Big Cheese showed themselves to be ready to take the next step and start wrecking venues in their own right.
For the uninitiated, Fucked Up could well be a band defined by its name. Possibly not a shirt you’d wear to Granny’s for Sunday tea; but you could play many of their tracks and have non-extreme music fans asking curious questions.
With a back-catalogue blending Psychedelia with Hardcore and Trance with Punk, a Fucked Up live show was always going to be of the utmost interest. Newest album, One Day, dominates the show, with eight of its ten cuts getting aired tonight. Only Falling Right Under and Cicada didn’t make the setlist tonight, but those that did found a new ferocity as they blasted from the speakers.
Main man, Damian Abraham is a genial host and is happy to share stories, including what he discovered about Newcastle a couple of days before the Manchester show. The inclusion of a couple of songs from the concept record David Comes to Life don’t need contextualising in advance and Queen of Hearts and Turn the Season slot in among the One Day and Dose Your Dreams tracks like puzzle pieces.
Damian isn’t one to hog all the limelight as yields to other vocalist input throughout. Bassist Sandy and guitarist Robin take centre stage at various points during the show, with Damian happy to take a supporting role, without ever leaving the stage.
The main set ends with Dose Your Dreams’ Joy Stops Time, jammed out and which sees each component instrument leaving the stage individually, until only Sandy and drummer Jonah remain. Eventually Sandy unstraps, leaving Jonah alone to add the final beats to the show.
They soon return for Turn the Season and an imperious rendition of Dose Your Dreams. This time the jam is longer and the finale by Jonah more permanent.
Although a little over an hour in length, Fucked Up’s show is a mesmerising display of the power of music to entrance and bewilder. The journey home gave me some time to consider what I’d witnessed and how it fit into my definition of a rock show.
In the end, here was a band, still doing their thing twenty-some-odd years after their inception, and not caring what anyone thinks, staying true to themselves with every note they play. And taking a growing audience with them for the ride.
