Live Review: 1000mods – Manchester

Arriving at the venue on Friday night, I was bemused to see a queue outside, as the gig was meant to be an early 6.30pm opening, but more about that drama later. Rebellion was filling up nicely, and about 45 minutes later than planned, psychedelic doomsters Amon Acid hit the stage to start proceedings off.

The quartet from Leeds were new to me, but I soon got into their slow and steady grooves and they had the crowd entranced from the word go. With minimal stage movement, and smoke filling the stage, the drumming was getting progressively heavier and the songs more hypnotic. With most of the songs coming off their excellent “Cosmogony” album, we were treated to “Death on the Altar”, “Mandragoras” (where the drums fell apart) and “Hyperion”.

The solos were on point throughout, and the structure of the songs all fitted together really well, with big explosive openings, head rocking beats and lots and lots of dark doom, with new song “Toad Venom” making it into the set. The finished with “Demon Rider”, which has a lovely swirly and mysterious bass intro, like a freakish nightmare sequence, building up into a song of high quality, leaving to a good round of applause from an appreciative audience.

Next up on stage, to the rapidly filling up venue, was Manchester’s own stoner blues trio Ritual King, who were playing to a home crowd. With Danny on bass giving a off a massive sound from the word go, the rip straight into their set with gusto, and heads are rocking all over the place. The sound is huge, the rhythm is tight and the trio gel together really well. During one song, “Worlds Divide” I think, they trio each have a cameo to demonstrate their playing ability.

They offer something different, with a jazz and blues influence, giving a softer yet powerful affect, you can imagine a keyboard playing over the top of certain songs. The pounding drums keep that stoner vibe going throughout, with lots of cymbals being used, and they play consistently at a high level, with no instrument dominating the music. They end proceedings off with the excellent “Valleys”, which has that slow build up before the riff brings the song to life and they finish on a high.

1000mods are a Greek stoner rock band, who had a few van issues on the way to the venue, hence why the gig was running over by about an hour or so, but the four piece didn’t let that disturbance put them off their stride as they delivered a performance that was nothing short of breathtaking.

As the smoke billowed around the venue, they explode onto the stage and tear straight into “Electric Carve”, which sets the tone for their entire set. “This is our first time in Manchester” proclaims singer Dani G, before they rip through “Pearl” and the mightily impressive “So Many Days”, which saw the stage bathed in blue lights.

With the recent departure of guitarist Giannis S, they’ve recruited their friend Marios to join them on this tour, and he leads the intro into “Loose” which is such a powerful song, that flows superbly, with silky solos and the drumming from Labros which is just exquisite, as he combines accuracy with intricacy, yet is full of aggression and venom.

The middle section of the set just goes way too quickly, with “Low”, “Road” and Mirrors” all getting a good blasting to the worked up crowd who are all basking in the glory of the show. The riffs are immense, and the clap along sections are joined in by everyone, and then for me, they play the outstanding song of the night, “El Rollito” which is just epic and needs to be heard live so you can really appreciate it. They continue with “Into the Spell” with a softer vocal before the beat takes over. They lay down their guitars and amble off stage at Labros carries on for a few more beats.

“Thanks once again for coming out tonight” as they come back to rapturous applause as the stunning “Vidage” echoes around the venue, elevated by the drumming, and the fast riff towards the end which gets the pit bouncing before they finish with “Super Van Vacation” (quite apt considering what happened earlier in the day) to bring to an end a super gig by a super band.

1000mods have left a really mark on me after this performance and they are probably the greatest band that people have never heard of. Hopefully, this is about to change, as they are a truly awesome band. Get and see them wherever and whenever you can, you won’t be disappointed.