BY ROGER SHARMAN

I’ve been a fan of Shane Smith and the Saints since I first became aware of their first album ‘Coast’ back in early 2014. The release of their follow up album ‘Geronimo’ cemented my love of the band. I’ve always said that a band can’t be judged until you’ve seen them live, I needed to listen to these guys in the flesh. 

My first live experience of Shane Smith and the Saints I remember like it was yesterday, 7th September 2018 at the World’s largest Honky Tonk, the iconic Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, Texas, and what a show that was. I got to go backstage into the Green Room, to meet and have a beer with them. Incidentally my review of that show is kicking around somewhere in Country Lowdown’s archive vault. 

It’s been an absolute joy for me to follow the careers of the boys since then, see them grow as individuals and as a band and watch them become, in my opinion, one of the premier live bands in the world today, transcending genres. It’s been a pleasure for me to meet the boys on a number of occasions, it may sound a bit cliched but each and every member of the band are literally the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. Having had that insight, I can also safely say that this is one of the hardest working bands around too, yet they always make time for their fans where ever they maybe touring, they treat their fans as if they are VIPs. They’ve done the hard yards for years and it isn’t coincidental that appearing on Yellowstone increased awareness and popularity of the band on a global scale. 

Last year they came over to the UK to play their first shows in the UK and Europe. I was present for their barnstorming UK debut on the Interstate Stage at The Long Road Festival. They went down an absolute storm, receiving one of the loudest send offs of the entire weekend. That was followed by their UK headline debut and tour, which received rave reviews from all of the UK Country Music writers and bloggers.

Indeed, in the last 18 months Shane Smith and the Saints have exceeded even their wildest dreams, two huge Red Rocks performances, a successful tour of the UK and Europe, the critically acclaimed latest release ‘Norther’, playing at the Royal Albert Hall followed by a number of shows in the north of England and Scotland, they are riding the crest of a wave right now. 

Manchester Gorilla is a new venue to me, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a compact venue in the heart of town, that has a capacity of around 600, I say around as I read it’s 600 but it was heaving on Saturday and seems smaller. 

The audience, packed in tightly, were enthusiastic and ready for what was to come, they were loud, they were sweaty and they were ready for what they were about to be treated to. They were intoxicated by the music as Shane and the boys worked their way through a first-class selection of songs from all four of their studio albums. Kicking off proceedings in their customary manner with ‘Last of the Mohicans’. The crowd were in fine voice straight away for ‘Adeline’ from ‘Norther’ which has very quickly become a firm favourite with me, Bennett Brown’s fiddle is just gorgeous throughout this track, Dustin ‘Sunshine’ Schaefer’s soaring lead guitar solo is indicative of why he’s been nominated as Texas Guitarist of the year. 

‘Book of Joe’ is followed by another big fan favourite, ‘Feather in the Wind’ which has the crowd up on their toes bouncing, as ring-leader Shane demands we all jump, nobody was going to ignore him a few ales in. 

‘Mountain Girl’, ‘The Greys Between’ and ‘Hurricane’ the Levon Helm song that the band pretty much own now, have never sounded finer. 

‘Hail Mary’ was epic, ‘It’s been a While’ is one of the new tracks and really showcases the four-part harmonies that have become synonymous with Shane Smith and the Saints

‘Quite Like You’ gave us a couple of minutes to catch our collective breaths before the full-on sonic assault was up a notch or two even further with an old favourite ‘Dance the Night Away’ then ‘Coast’ which always gets the crowd dancing and singing along like their lives depended on it. 

Even then the boys were able to ramp it up even more, ‘Fire in the Sky’, ‘Cocaine Habit’, which was the standout of the night for me, the intensity of that song was accompanied by a wave of dry ice and dark and moody lighting, it was immense. ‘Fire in the Ocean’, followed those two which had me jumping around like a jack-in-the-box on amphetamines. 

‘Little Bird’ gave us a little time to refill our lungs as we all swayed in time with that most beautiful of songs. That fiddle makes me well up every time. 

‘Heaven Knows’ ensured that the stomp was back on before the band briefly left us for whatever it is they do for the 3-4 minutes it takes bands to return for the encore. 

You could feel the expectancy grow, as we still hadn’t heard it, the song that has propelled Shane Smith and the Saints to where they are today. However, the crowd had to wait a little longer for that. We got ‘Right Side of the Ground’ and ‘What a Shame’ before that moment arrived. But it was worth the wait, as always, and the crowd in Manchester totally did it justice, I don’t think there was a person in the house that wasn’t singing along to the phenomenal ‘All I see is You’. I don’t think Old Trafford on a Saturday afternoon has been as loud as the audience was in that moment, and rightfully so, apologies to any Manchester United fans reading this. 

The crowd wandered off into the night to do whatever Mancunians do on a Saturday night thoroughly entertained by this outstanding performance.

Before I rap this up, I feel it pertinent to mention, the guy sitting at the back that keeps the band in perfect time Zach Stover you played an absolute blinder on Saturday, not to mention Friday! Additionally, the wonderful big fluffy wrecking ball providing the rhythm, Mr Chase Satterwhite, cannot go unmentioned just for being the absolute star that he is. 

What else is there for me to say except if you haven’t seen them then you need to, you really do.