Live Review: Midnight - Rebellion, Manchester
31st July 2025
Support: Wolfbastard
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Rich Price
Having seen Midnight play the same venue in April last year, as soon as this was announced, it was a must go to gig. The trio are one of the hottest metal acts around right now, and this promised to be another jaw dropping performance. The main support was from Oldham’s Wolfbastard, a band unfamiliar to myself, but having heard a few songs, I was looking forward to the trek up to Manchester on a Thursday night.
With the venue starting to fill up, there’s a Lovely heavy intro from the trio before bassist/singer Si Fox shouts out "fuck off" a recurring theme throughout the set and they plough straight into "It's Fucking Dark". It's got a simple yet heavy riff with great drumming from Dave Buchan and a slow mid-section ushers in another scream.
"Manchester, how we doing?" before they move onto "Can't Escape the Grave". They have some blistering solos and riffs from guitarist Dez, and he plays with such fury that he loses his plectrum during the song. " We are gonna play some new shit" says Si which is met with applause before he fires back with, " you haven't heard it yet" and they crack on with "Satanic Scum Punks" which will become a fan favourite I'm sure as it's rips along at pace.
"We aren't used to towels" quips Dez as he wipes down his brow, "this is another new one which hasn't been plagiarised at all, called “Fuck off Then Die" which has lots of grunts throughout. I love the way they antagonise each other and the crowd, before we get a slow one called "Fear Exxxekutioner" which of course isn't slow as it's a loud and raucous black metal song. "You wipe your head so much your hair has fallen out " says Si to Dez, who also acknowledges that he also has a shit mullet.
Dez then joins in with “before it's midnight, you get us 3 sexy bastards" as they go into another new one called “Biffo”, which he proclaims that "Oldham people will get that one" ahead of the next song dedicated to my own country, Wales, called "Manic Street Creatures". The wonderfully titled "Buckfast" is up next, as they hand a freshly opened bottle to the crowd. The pit kicks up a few notches as the songs are relentlessly fast and a joy to watch.
"Any Polish friends in tonight? This is for you, Hail Satan Kurma" which is heavier and faster than anything before it. " Oh no, Derek Clapton has broken a string" quips Si, as the proceedings come to a halt. They ask the soundman how long they've got left, before the drummer responds to a shout from the crowd for some grind core and he does some blast beats after Si had done a few bars of The Stone Roses "I Wanna be Adored". "Drink beer" is the returning song just before the finale, which is about a little Goth girl, called “Graveyard Slut” which is an impressive song to finish off a great set from the band.
Whilst watching Wolfbastard, I saw a figure in my peripheral vision that I thought I recognised, and all would become clearer as Midnight took to the stage. The church bells were chiming across the darkened stage, and the trio are welcomed with huge cheers as they enter the stage. They play a little intro of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” as chants of all hail Ozzy, lead into opening track “All Hail Hell”.
As previously observed, frontman Athenar is in complete control, as they play their songs at breakneck speed and deliver another show of fast and furious blackened speed metal. They are a band who command your full attention and fill the set with songs that encourage full participation for the crowd. During “Fucking Speed & Darkness” we get the first stage diver, and the pit is fired up when the intense “Black Rock n Roll” continues the breathless performance.
With chants of Midnight ringing around the venue from the enthusiastic and appreciative audience, Athenar announces that “it’s great to be back in Manchester, as so much good music has come from here, and you have dirtbags like we have in Cleveland” which leads into new song “Cleveland Metal” and it goes down well. The intensity is topped by the manic “Expect Total Hell” which is such a brilliant song, played at epic speed with the solos flying all over the place from Commandor Vanik.
There’s no let-up, with “FOAD” up next, which sees more stage divers and the band fist pumping the crowd throughout. Athenar laughs at a crowd member as their shout/insult/request is polite, saying that “it’s so British of you to say please”. They rip through the bruising “Evil Like a Knife” with ease as Athenar headbutts the big speaker along to the drumming of Iron Possessor, who is like the Tasmanian Devil on his kit.
“Here’s some more fast stuff, so you can do daft things to each other down there” announces Athenar as they crank up “White Hot Fire” which is unbelievably fast before the stunningly brilliant “Endless Slut”. This is my favourite song of theirs and they play it so quick, that it’s seemingly over far too quickly. “T.A.P.” sees the pit go even faster as each moment is savoured by those inside Rebellion tonight.
“I love the UK and it’s music history, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, NWOBHM, and what about that band Discharge, who invented a whole genre.” which heralds loud applause, only to be drowned out when they announce that Jeff “JJ” Janiak, the figure I had seen earlier, was here tonight, and they played a phenomenal version of the Discharge classic “Protest & Survive”. Personally, I haven’t grinned at a song so much in ages, and I sang alongside the other few hundred people packed inside, as we witnessed something special in that moment.
“We aren’t going to top that, but we’ll try to level it” as the awesome “Satanic Royalty” heralds more stage divers before the tempo reaches fever pitch during “You Can’t Stop Steel”. Athenar is stood on his amp, as Vanik fires out his stunning solo front and centre. They finish off with an extended version of “Unholy & Rotten” as the venue is bouncing, the crowd feeding off the band’s high octane stage presence. And with a load of high 5’s to the crowd and “Manchester, thank you very fucking much” they disappear after serving up a majestic display of blackened speed metal.
Photo Credits: Rich Price Photography
