Gig Review: Stockport’s finest Blossoms headline Wythenshawe Park

August bank holiday Sunday marked the date the Stockport 5-piece Blossoms played their biggest headline show to date, accompanied by some bands like Seb Lowe, The K's, and Inhaler.

REVIEWSLIVE SHOW

NEVE POMFREY

8/31/20243 min read

Blossoms at Wythenshawe Park
Blossoms at Wythenshawe Park

August bank holiday Sunday marked the date the Stockport 5-piece played their biggest headline show to date and it was even better than expected. With a sea of roughly 30,000 fans gathering in the Manchester park, it was most definitely a gig to be remembered.

I’m certain I won’t be the first and definitely not the last to tell you that Blossoms is one of the hardest-working bands in the British music scene right now (Maybe slightly biased, I’m a massive fan), but it doesn’t take a fan to notice this. The headline show this weekend was proof of the graft these lads have put in and it really was their best yet. From start to finish, including the support acts, the day was so well thought through that it could just be the gig of the year. Each and every one of the support acts played at their best, which included Manchester band The Guestlist, Findlay’s (who features on Blossoms ‘To Do list (After the Breakup’) band TTRUUCES, Seb Lowe, The K’s, Shed Seven and Inhaler. There wasn’t a minute of boredom in the run-up to the main act, with all these artists entertaining fans from the minute the event started. But when it got to the time for Blossoms to walk out onto the stage, that’s when the real excitement kicked in. 30,000 people stood eagerly anticipating, whispers of what they were going to start with.

Blossoms at Wythenshawe Park
Blossoms at Wythenshawe Park

The lap steel at the front on the stage was the obvious sign it would be ‘Your Girlfriend’, which never fails as an opener. As soon as they started, the show was a masterpiece all the way through. The hard work put in by the 5-piece, as mentioned above, really showed. From the stage setup, the set list, the segues, and their outfits, it all came together into arguably one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. Frontman Tom was as charismatic and full of energy as ever, Joe absolutely smashed the drumming, Josh was a guitar god, Charlie was as exceptional as always on the bass and Myles even brought the keytar out. How cool (like you)? We can’t ignore that we also found Gary (an 8-foot fibreglass gorilla that one of the lads' newest singles ‘Gary’ is about) during the Wythenshawe set. Name another band that would introduce a song with police officers looking for a fibreglass gorilla that went missing from a garden centre and then proceed to bring him out on stage. You can’t, because no other band would do that.

Wythenshawe Park as a venue was also a pleasant experience. With it being the second year running for Live from Wythenshawe Park, with Noel Gallagher headlining last year, the park has proved itself to be a great setting for concerts. Having not attended last year, this was my first time at the park, and I didn’t leave disappointed. As a whole, Blossoms' performance on bank holiday weekend proved the talent and musicianship these lads actually have. Although I’ve never seen one bad Blossoms performance, Sunday was easily the best I’ve ever seen them play.

The band’s energy, combined with the venue, enthusiastic crowd, and of course Gary, made the whole set unforgettable. It perfectly demonstrated what makes live music so special and showed what a band Blossoms truly are.

That’s not all from Stockport’s finest though, as their fifth album Gary is released on the 20th of September and the lads are headed on tour in October/November. If you missed out on Wythenshawe, you can get the remaining tickets here and pre-order the new album Gary here!

First photo: @sophiajcarey

Second photo, words: Neve Pomfrey

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