Saturday 23/09/06 FREEDM Stage @ Cohesion Festival, Manchester

As well as providing respite from the wet dross of the main stage, Cohesion’s second stage has also secured some damn fine bands, showcasing the depth of High Voltage’s signings but also delivering Manchester’s greatest band of the moment The Longcut. The Answering Machine are rising stars, with their single release happening next week the Manchester trio are poised for a flurry of media adoration. They look great, they sound fantastic and manage to squeeze modern twists in without compromising their undeniable gift for tunes.

Redcarsgofaster have seemingly been everywhere this summer, yet we’ve missed them time and time again, and frankly we’re gutted we’ve not caught them earlier. Today Redcars are amazing and we can’t help but hark back the times we first glimpsed the Sonar Yen, it’s intense, intricate and loud, just how we like it. The KBC tick two of these critical boxes yet fail to create any atmosphere or intensity yet again. Fundamentally they lack tunes, potentially they’re fantastic and latest single “Not any More” is indeed that, ditto the set closer, but they lack hooks to the majority of tracks which doesn’t bode well for the album.

Roland Shanks might as well of stayed in Camberwell, for it seems Manchester has favoured main stage shoegazing, or in fact are still queuing for drinks (note for next year – more bars) so much so that the Shanks are deserted. Not we give a shit because at least we’ve treated ourselves and can bathe in their pop mastery. Their sharp, angular and three tiered vocal delivery breathe life into the vacant pastures leaving us no option than to pat our backs for attending, well done. Onto tonight’s headliners Manchester’s own The Longcut.

After a disappointingly lax D-Percussion performance it’s with trepidation we approach tonight’s performance, but our fears are ill founded. In reality the production on ‘A Call and Response’ has alienated part of The Longcut’s audience – very much dividing it into two camps -  but live they’re still a force to be reckoned with, proven by tonight’s throbbing performance. ‘A Tried and Tested Method’s clean, almost angelic air allows us respite from the aural onslaught of tracks such as ‘Transition’, but as with any Longcut performance it’s all about ‘A Quiet Life’ which tonight is fantastically brooding and barbarous.

It could barely have gone smoother, the bands, the weather, the atmosphere, the setting -  Manchester couldn’t have asked for a better showcase for emerging talent.

Stage 2, year 1 of Cohesion, a resounding success.