N3M is proud to present The Vortex at The Well (formerly Jospehs Well, Leeds). The lineup includes Dicks Orchard, Northern Glory, Playground, The Mockingbirds and Spike Island.
Tickets are £6.50 from See Tickets, Luna Tickets, Crash Records, Jumbo Records and Musicans Centre.
Location: The Well
Doors 5pm-11pm.
IN the late Nineties one Noel Gallagher, irked that he was not attracting the credit he felt his songwriting skills merited, observed that if he’d written Live Forever during The Beatles-era, 30 years before, he would have been hailed a genius.
Others respectfully suggested that he would not have written Live Forever if it wasn’t for The Beatles in the first place. A chicken-and-egg style debate rages to this day.
The Vortex are not The Beatles and they are not Oasis. Nor are Oasis The Beatles. Keep up. Nonetheless, plucky and determined souls insist on wondering if The Vortex is the band Oasis ‘should have become’.
None of which really matters of course and it certainly doesn’t seem to be pre-occupying Mike, Maz, Nick, Sean, Jaxx and Bonehead (yes, the very same) as they hijack the stage once more.
True enough, their edgy, soulful, pounding brand of indie-rock is evocative of much that was good about their forebears and, yes, they have that distinct (and marvellous) Manchester swagger.
Yet here’s the thing. They are cocky and egotistic – they really are – and their music bristles with simmering menace and jaunty arrogance. And people love it.
The crowd tonight want sounds that claw at them with soul and energy, they want rock, they want roll, and they want their front men swearing and swaggering and staggering.
The Vortex do not disappoint, kicking and punching at the vocals, bombing the bass and smashing through deafening chords with nonchalant anger. The whole place pulses and you can feel the room itself sweating; hearts straining, legs twitching.
The venue struggles to contain the sound; walls split at the seams and ears bruise as the band explodes through Never Negotiate, Revolution Sometime and the rousing All Over Now.
Last year’s Dirty Soul – an apt title if ever there was one – is the highlight of a 30-minute set; the opening strains crackling across the soaked heads of the heaving crowd like a fight breaking out. For the record, fights do break out.
But The Vortex are not crashing dumbly about the music scene, trying to alienate friends and lose people. They might look and sound like they feel they’re invincible but there’s savvy here too.
At times, the mask drops and skilful musicianship emerges from behind the swagger as the band works hard to keep it tight, which they do, and for a few moments the otherwise remorseless energy abates.
Low points, maybe; breathers, definitely – the crowd and the aching walls taking the opportunity to fill their lungs for a breathless, battering ram of a finale.
The Vortex will be slamming doors, banging tables, bloodying noses and swearing at your nan across the UK with an autumn tour. Go. Make your own mind up. And don’t wear your best trainers.
