Fifty Million Reasons

Shack have got back together after an absence of fifteen years since they last played together (and nineteen since their last album). They played at The Ritz on Friday night. The Head brothers, Mick and John, formed Shack in the late 80s after their first band The Pale Fountains split and recorded some very fine albums- Waterpistol, HMS Fable, The Magical World Of The Strands in the 90s and Here's Tom With The Weather and On The Corner Of Miles And Gil in the 00s. Playing live again the brothers have been joined by bassist Pete Wilkinson and drummer Ian Skelly on loan from The Coral (following the sad death of original drummer Ian Templeton in 2022) plus a duo filling out the sound with horns and flute. 

Shack exist in their own world and space, a band out of time. They seem entirely untouched by 2025, by Tik Tok, Snapchat and Spotify. Their sound- analogue warmth, California in 1967 by way of Liverpool in 1991- is a joy, beautifully crafted songs that ease their way in, songs touched by melancholy and fragility, tales of drug addiction and woe, but also filled with love and joy, the sound of an eternal summer. Mick Head's acoustic guitar and John's semi- acoustic electric mesh together perfectly, wrapping their sounds around each other, with the bass and drums locked in tight, Skelly's drums occupying a space somewhere in between rock and jazz. And then they sing, two voices wracked with over thirty years of living, most of the songs sung by Mick with John taking the lead on three or four. 

They kick off with Sgt. Major from Waterpistol (an album that was nearly lost forever in 1991 following a series of misadventures- a studio fire, tapes left in a taxi). Mick Head between songs seems almost overcome by the occasion, the love and warmth in the room from the crowd to the band and back again. The Ritz was very much a Manchester/ Liverpool event on Friday night, lots of Scousers heading across on the M62 for the gig, the crowd peppered with La's t- shirts. The set ebbs and flows, John and Mick's songs sounding exactly as they should- lived in and loved. Cornish Town (written and sung by John) is a beauty. So is Undecided, one of Mick's best songs, a song for lost summer days, with guitars that cross The Byrds with Fairport Convention, and the line about sticking a needle in your arm jumping out.

Undecided 

It's a dream setlist- Butterfly, Mr. Appointment, the wondrous sea shanty/ folk song Captain's Table, Mick's songbook high point Comedy, a song that cries and laughs- and concludes with the electrifying Streets Of Kenny, Mick's tale of trawling the streets of his home, Kensington (the Liverpool one not the London one), looking for heroin, a sidestep away from Love and into Velvet Underground territory, John shaking his guitar.  

Captain's Table

After a brief disappearance they return for a one song encore, a cover of a song by the band whose DNA runs through Shack more than any other, Love's A House Is Not A Motel. 

Comedy (Radio Edit)

Shack are possibly the cult band's cult band, a band dogged by bad luck and human frailties but loaded with songs. They go largely under the radar and are unknown to most. They lit up The Ritz on Friday night, the set sounding like a celebration. 'When you cry it pulls me through', Mick songs on Comedy, a line echoing down the line from the late 90s, as the Head brothers pluck victory out of the fire.