Sound of Guns Mini Tour:
First Stop- The Ruby Lounge Manchester 29/11/12
You can get that close to the stage in Manchester’s The Ruby Lounge that you can touch it in fact you could even change the set list if you wanted to (yeah that might have actually happened!) Headline SOG gigs in Manchester are few and far between so understandably there’s a massive buzz amongst the crowd also partly because local band The Tapestry have just warmed them up nicely. As the lights go down and the spine tingling intro to track Sometimes fades in the boys walk on stage to deafening chants of “sound of, sound of, sound of f*cking guns” and the place erupts into mosh pits and mass sing alongs.
No stranger to a SOG gig, I know exactly how this plays out they well and truly rock out from start to finish and tonight even with the inclusion of two new unknown songs it isn’t any different in fact they’ve upped their game if that’s even possible. Debuting tracks Boneyard and Lost you can see the excitement across their faces which is equally matched by the on looking crowd who simply can’t get enough. The adoring crowd hang on every word that comes out of front man Andy Metcalfe’s mouth welcoming him into their arms every time he ventures towards them and if you’ve ever seen Sound of Guns live then you’ll know that’s a lot.
As the end of the gig is in sight you’d be mistaken for thinking the restrictions of the Ruby Lounge’s small layout, there’s no lighting rig, no real barrier, the speakers are stacked from floor to ceiling and there’s certainly no balcony would prevent Metcalfe from getting up to his usual antics during set closer Alcatraz. However the fearless front man somehow manages to scale the speakers climbing onto a thin ledge merely meant for the crowd’s drinks before spectacularly diving into the crowd who then proceed to safely return him back to his rightful place centre stage before the band bow out.
