The Coonics - Manchester Apollo - 11.12.10Irelands financial problems are mentioned several times tonight by headliners The Saw Doctors, its something that probably isnt helped by most of Ireland's party animals being out in force in England for a month long tour. As with most recent tours, the Saw Doctors have taken out upcoming Irish band The Coonics on the road with them and tonight is the bands 2nd ever Manchester gig following their Mancunian debut at Gullivers in October for Designer Magazine at Gullivers.
Sometimes playing with veteran bands can be curse for support bands with audiences making this their one big Xmas night out to relive their youth, but as fans walk in its clear a large percentage of the audience are already familiar with the bands work. It also helps that The Saw Doctors seem to have won over a younger audiences through their infamous Sugababes cover "About You Now" and their tour with The Pogues.
The Coonics, while taking in modern influences such as The Strokes (well the Strokes is they decamped to a small Irish village rather than New York) they are very much in the classic early 80s post punk scene. If anything their own song "Skinny Jeans" sums up where the Coonics stand better than most - a rallying cry against the sort of skinny indie boys that NME froths at the mouth over on a weekly basis. Lyrically the closest comparison is the Stereophonic's debut album "Word Get Round" with a series of short stories set to music. While the likes of "Tasteless Joke" and "Hardest Man In town" may be the more well known songs back home, its the intriguingly titled "Uncle Sand Rabbit" with his OoOo call and pounding drums that is the highlight of the set.
By the time the band have played this tour they'd have played to upwards of 30,000 people in a month. Its hard to imagine that a large percentage of them wont fall in love with the Coonics if Manchester is anything to go by
Alex McCann
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