Walk Right Into Better Days

This is the fourth time in as many years I've seen A Certain Ratio in the run up to Christmas. They signed to Mute last year and have a new Best Of album out but they're still playing small, intimate venues. Gorilla on Whitworth Street in Manchester was rammed on Saturday night, the sort of gig where people are so jammed in that it's difficult to move/dance. I arrived late, couldn't find my friends and found myself down by the side of the stage right by Martin Moscrop with a perfect view of his pedal board and Denise Johnson occasionally coming over to sing right in front of us, as the pictures above show. The first half of the set was usual trip into late 70s and early 80s Manchester, songs that are now getting on for 40 years old, a northern noir response to punk and funk- Do The Du, Wild Party and Flight all sound particularly alive and vibrant. Denise comes on and we get a superb run through the early 90s groove of Be What You Wanna Be. Mickey Way from 1986's jazz-funk Force gets a welcome outing, Moscrop moving from guitar to trumpet to cowbell to drums from one song to the next. Poor Jez Kerr has to play sitting down when he's not singing, suffering from sciatica- between songs he apologises for this and in a nod to the average age of the crowd says that he's got a bad back but probably so have half the audience. In reply a walking stick and a crutch get waved around from near the front row. New song Dirty Boy is played, fitting right in with the rest. After this it's the familiar crowdpleasers- 27 Forever with an extended section, a reworked Good Together and Won't Stop Loving You (in its Big E version rather than Bernard Sumner's remix). They finish with Shack Up, Denise's vocals all the way out front with Donald's drums putting the funk into the punk. ACR return for an encore and as usual start swapping instruments, drummer Donald on slap bass and Martin on drums before ending with the samba workout Si Firmi O Grido. Drums strapped on, percussion in hands, the band troupe off the stage and into the crowd, finishing the gig in the centre of the floor surrounded by the audience. Sweaty, tightly packed fun.

The Big E