Live Review: Dinosaur Pile-Up - New Century Hall, Manchester
12th September 2025
Support: The Xcerts, Snake Eyes
Words: Matthew Williams
A little over two months ago, I’d never paid much attention to Yorkshire’s Dinosaur Pile-Up, but after reviewing their latest album “I’ve Felt Better” for The Razor’s Edge, I found myself heading up the M6 to see them live for the first time.
Due to the wonders of Manchester’s inner city ring road network, I arrived in New Century Hall just as Brighton duo Snake Eyes were finishing off "Another World". Singer/guitarist Jim announced that “we’ll be playing two new songs off the new album which is due out in January 2026. This is called No Cars" and almost immediately, jumps off the stage into the crowd and walks almost up to the sound desk. With a camera in tow, he changes places with the drummer Tom, who replicates his walk. So, I expect to see it on a video at some point.
Back on stage, Jim continues with "it means so much for us to be here tonight, so here's another new one called Hug Me" which is a decent song, and he swops mics to continue singing. Tom then interjects with his own monologue "Are we good? The World is an abhorrent place at the moment, with a streamed genocide taking place, just remember to look after yourself, give someone a hug and a kiss" which lots of people do before they continue with "No one is Truly Cool" which has a rockier edge to it and lots of dual vocals.
"We’ve got a couple more to go, this is called Scuttlebug" which has a great sound to the beginning. Tom asks for a mosh pit and a few oblige before Jim steps up, " we've been Snake Eyes from Brighton, we are back here in March at The Deaf Institute" followed by the usual plea to buy merch to help them out. "This is a song about equality, called Skeletons" and as he meanders across the stage the drummer stands up on his stool and waves to the appreciative crowd.
I didn’t know much about Aberdeen rockers The Xcerts either, but the trio enter to decent applause. They start with “Live like This”, which is good song with a few tempo changes, as more people pile into watch. There’s a lovely bass sound from Jordan Smith on the next song “Kids on Drugs”. I was watching their lighting person tapping along controlling the white and red lights, and they were smiling throughout, which is good to see.
They go straight into “We are Gonna Live” which has a feel of an 80’s rom-com about it, as do a few others. There’s a good opening riff from Murray Macleod at the start of “Shaking in the Water” and it’s mixed with that 00s alt rock feel. When they go for a bigger sound, they are much better, and have a bit of a breather, before coming back with “Jealousy”.
We get a few words from Macleod, "Manchester how we doing? We are The Xcerts and we love this city" ahead of a rockier number, think it was “Slackerpop” which is more enjoyable. A quick guitar change, before the frontman asks, “who’s heard of us before?" and a fair few people scream, "this is for the old bands, called Crisis in the Slow Lane”. The tempo and mood drop but picks up in the middle. He thanks DNP for having them on tour before another guitar change as he bemoans his guitar not being in tune. "Two more songs, thanks for being so kind to us." They end with “GIMME” and finish off their set to good applause.
You can sense the excitement in the air. This is Dinosaur Pile-Up’s first UK tour in some time, and the crowd is buzzing for them. There are big cheers as the Beastie Boys “Fight for your right to Party” blasts over the house PA, and the cheers grow louder at the trio enter the stage.
They kick off with the energetic “Bout to Lose it” and it sets the tone for a night of pure enjoyment. People are jumping about all over the place, and they follow up with “Stupid Heavy Metal Broken Hearted Loser Punk” that rips along at some pace. “I can hear a noise, sounds like an animal” which I didn’t quite understand until later, but Matt continues with “this isn't a new song, it's a fucking old one” and they play “Peninsula” which reminds me in parts of The Lemonheads.
The set is a mix of old and new songs, and they play “Celebrity Mansions” which is the song that made me draw a comparison to Weezer. It’s a clever, witty song, with lots of clap along parts for the crowd to participate in. “Ok, time to play some new shit now” and they roll on with the cathartic “I've felt Better” with its anthemic chorus, the crowd are bouncing. One of Matt’s favourite catch phrases is clearly “Let’s go” as he says it constantly throughout the evening, but it works a treat as the audience are salivating at his every word as “Sick of Being Down” clearly shows.
With the rockier “Round the Bend” up next, the frontman has a few words, “fucking hell, I can see a lot of friends and new faces here tonight, it's so nice to be here with you guys and thank you for coming out” as he also thanks both support bands. “Pouring Gasoline” has that distinctive Americana sound to it, with a lovely bass from Jim, and the raucous vocal part gets the pit really going. “This is fucking crazy man, I wrote this song 20 years ago when I couldn't pay the rent” as they plough into “My Rock n Roll” which is clearly a firm favourite, and you can tell the era it was written in, as it’s got a unique early to mid-noughties ambience.
With Jim now on guitar, Matt holds aloft the microphone to speak to the gathered masses. “Who has seen us before? Who hasn't?” about an even split, “It’s been a pretty crazy couple of years, and it’s wild for us to be back here. We are going to play some new songs now” and they kick off this section with “Love's the Worst”. He continues, “I'm glad we made that new album it was tough, but I'm glad you can hear it” and we get another new track “I Don’t Love Nothing and Nothing Loves Me, which has another big sounding intro.
Matt is clearly revelling in this and is enjoying being back on stage, so much so that we get a rendition of the classic Run DMC track “It’s Tricky” which goes down a storm, even though he laughs beforehand saying “I'm definitely going to forget the lyrics to this one” and claims they haven’t rehearsed it, but Setlist.FM is our friend and it’s been played every night on the current tour ha ha!!
Returning to their usual format and instruments all in hand, Matt introduced “11.11” with “Manchester, what the fucking time is it. Tell me the time!!!!” and this gets heads bopping and bodies moving. It’s a proper big sounding rock song, with an epic sounding chorus line, as they leave to a cacophony of cheers and animal sounds.
“Alright motherfuckers. You guys are amazing and we appreciate you. Once a long time ago we wrote this song on tour” and the highlight of the night begins. The opening riff to “Thrash Metal Cassette” is awesome and the song sees the crowd start a mosh pit and enjoy the meldoy. With Jim back on guitar, the noises now become apparent, “I can hear some dawgs out there. We've only got two songs left, sorry but it's the fucking law, but we want to extend our gratitude for you being here tonight” as “Big Dogs” rings out. The audience are loving it and sing along to every word. “Thank you so fucking much, Manchester we love you” and they end with the brilliant “Back Foot” and finish off what has been a night of pure enjoyment.
