Live Review: ††† (Crosses) – Manchester

††† (Crosses) – which from hereon I’m just going to call Crosses – make their first appearance on British soil since their inception in 2011. In all fairness, both Deftone Chino Moreno and Far’s Shaun Lopez have been keeping busy on other projects, so let’s not judge them too harshly. Last year’s Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete album followed almost a decade on from the self-titled debut and continued the electronic/ dark wave/ dream pop vibes that make Crosses such an immersive listening experience.

This show at Manchester’s New Century Hall is the third and final, sold-out show on the whistle-stop run of UK dates before heading off across the channel to Paris, Holland and Hellfest.

Opening act, Vowws, make their first ever appearance in Manchester, some guitarist Matt James announces they band have been looking forward to doing for some time. The LA trio arrive with the slinky feel of Marilyn Manson, complete with gothic and electronic overtones. From the outset, the fragility of their recorded output is replaced by more aggressive and demanding live renditions, the 80s synth-pop feel having to make way for a far-more in-your-face performance.

Their short time with us is ample to suggest Vowws should be taken seriously; blending electronic and industrial with the cinematic and the grinding, there’s rarely a dull moment during the set, with the central figure of Rizz attracting the majority of the attention. Her vocals sweep and soar as the music demands, equally comfortable in the unsettlingly off-kilter as she is in the distinctly post-punk. In many ways Vowws is the perfect band to act as support tonight, as they embody much of what makes the main event so encapsulating.

Using a recorded version of Goodnight, God Bless…’ title track as their introduction, Crosses take the Manchester stage to rapturous applause, the simple stage set-up complementing the duo of Chino and Shaun, giving each the space to do their individual thing. The torch-song opening of Invisible Hand gives way to a mighty bottom-end and the comment about Vowws‘s recorded fragility being replaced by a far more robust sound is equally, if not more, applicable to Crosses.

Shaun is positioned in a central section, most usually reserved for the drums, yet he is manipulating synths and playing guitar, recreating Crosses’ dream-pop tunes into solidly forceful renditions. †his Is a †rick finds a booming bass drum shaking the floor and a stage saturated with red light. It also brings the first of many singalong moments to the evening, with the capacity crowd pleased to welcome to the New Century Hall a band that is clearly close to their collective hearts.

Pleasure maintains a More Human Than Human pulse throughout and Vivien sees Chino having ditched his jacket, even for a Californian, the weather is really rather warm in Manchester tonight. Rizz of Vowws returns to the stage for a duet of Pulseplagg, which ends with the venue chanting Chino’s name.

There’s obviously a lot of love in the room for the main man and his day job, and respect must go to Chino for his broad vocal talent. In all honesty, I was very late to the Deftones’ party, and really only started to accept their genius via the Ohms album, before backtracking through their discography. The idiosyncrasies of his vocal style have often been imitated, but no-one does it with such effortless ease and be immediately recognisable.

Of the twenty songs aired tonight, only three could reasonably be thought of as Deftones-adjacent: Initiation, Bitches Brew and set closer, Option. Elsewhere, there’s the heavy electronics of Cadavre Exquis, the infectious beats of †he Epilogue, and even choral-vibes at the beginning of Protection, which plays in front of video screens displaying footage of a wedding at some point in the distant

past. If there was a moment when Chino’s vocal abilities were best demonstrated it is here, as Protection moves through its 80s-feel – coming over like post-Fish-era Marillion at times – Chino’s voice adopting a haunted, ethereal tone.

Frontiers sees Shaun multi-tasking across his consoles, †hholyghs† receives a massive cheers as is about as anthemic as Crosses get, played out in front of a screen showing such surreal images as would make David Lynch envious. The set ends with the Goodnight. God Bless… single, Big Youth, which includes rapper, EI-P’s contribution via recording displayed at the rear of the stage.

When Crosses returns, Chino has had a costume change – well, his white t-shirt has been swapped out for a black one, so it’s hardly Taylor Swift – and he and Shaun kick into a guitar-led cover of Interpol’s Untitled. Another cover, this time of the late Q Lazzarus’ Goodbye Horses, is given an unstoppable post-punk makeover, though is still identifiable as what it is. Which leaves just †elepa†hy’s singalong-inducing low-end stomp and Option to finish the evening.

Tonight was an utterly engrossing performance and far more hard-edged than I was expecting. The recorded basics of the fragile dream pop synths were all present but bolstered by a meaty low end and some tearing guitars. After Hellfest, Crosses will go back on hiatus while Chino returns to the Deftones’ fold for a couple of US dates. Hopefully that might mean a new album is imminent, but if he fancies coming back with Shaun, and doing it again, I think we’d be up for that too.