Thursday 04/11/04 The Polyphonic Spree @ MDH, Manchester

Not much has changed in the last two years since The Poly' visited Manchester, the gospel still remains the same, relying heavily on crowd participating antics that the Academy take too like flies to shit. The biggest ‘flies’ sporting coloured robes can be seen circling the front-bars fanatically chanting for ‘Tim’ to give them a wave, dignity shows no shame tonight.

 

But that’s what The Polyphonic Spree are all about, losing your marbles and just mucking in, although catching yourself hopping and flapping around eyes skyward can seem and sound a little sinister, I’m sure those who emerge from real cults feel the same remorse for their un-natural and irrational behaviour. The time, the place and the overall sense of unity (ha) overrule reality (that’s my excuse) and at the end of the day its just good clean cult fun.

 

Second album ‘Together We’re Heavy’ although receiving seemingly less press, reaches orchestral and emotional heights with a proficiency and glee absent from debut demo record ‘The Beginning Stages Of…’

 

The diverse crowd are treated to "sections" from both albums, including set highlight ‘Suitcase Calling’ from the second album. This slower, more melodic approach is where the Spree really shine. Sparsely sprinkled with piano and slide guitar, its simple yet effective, something the spree sometimes struggle with. Not unlikely considering just how many voices and instruments intertwine and weave through each "section". Songs range from the blissfully simple ‘1 Man’ to the chanty humdrum of ‘Soldier Girl’, which is sadly the song many associate with the Spree.

 

Sometimes sounding a little like a Sesame Street band for the retarded students, Tim delights the kids with such bullshit as: “Hail to the Sky, its time to watch a show, the trees wanna grow, grow grow grow” hippy gobshite genius.

 

You could spend all night questioning motives and their approach, but its better to let go and get involved, but then again that’s probably what David Karesh said in Waco. 

 

Photo by Daniel Pratley