Concert Review: Manchester Orchestra

Band: Manchester Orchestra 
Date: October 28, 2011
Location: The Regency Theater, San Francisco, CA 


Preconceived Thoughts of the Band: I had only recently started listening to Manchester Orchestra, but a lot of people that I have similar music taste with really love this band. From all their songs that I had heard previous to the show I really enjoyed listening to. So I knew that I would most likely love their live show. 


What Actually Happened (BITCH SPOILER ALERT) - 
There were three opening bands, Little Hurricane, The Dear Hunter and White Denim. I had actually 



been really excited to see The Dear Hunter, but here is where the bitch in me comes out. My ticket and the Regency website said the show started at 730. I ended up getting there a little after 8, which would be the time The Dear Hunter would start to play. We walked in to the room and I totally recognized the end of their last song as well as their singer, Casey Crescenzo. I didn't really think we missed it, but we went outside into the merch area and we ran into some friends from school. They were like "WASN'T THE DEAR HUNTER AMAZING?!" and I was like "NOOOOO, we just got here!!!" It was a super big bummer -_- Apparently, the show started early. So I was pissed that they did that. After being really mad for awhile, we went inside and listened to the next band, White Denim. They were pretty talented, but I wasn't really feeling them. Finally, Manchester Orchestra came on. I was really impressed. They played one of my favorite songs by them first, so for me, I got me really excited for the rest of their set. The lead singer, Andy Hull, sounded amazing. It literally sounded like I was listening to the album. I love his voice. I got the feeling that alot of their fans were like Brand New fans, were they really love this band. The crowd was a mix of people and seemed really random to me. It ranged for mexican cholo looking dudes to bros to hipsters. So weird. I ended up really liking the crowd. All the guys were super into it. When they were playing, most people were just head banging and moving to the music, and it got me really into it too. The energy was amazing. Since I haven't been listening to Manchester that long, I didn't know the words to most of the songs, but I definitely recognized more than half. Overall, I was super impressed with them. They put on an awesome show, the crowd had fantastic energy and Andy Hull's voice is magical. 


Verdict - Great set, great voice, fun crowd, angered at the venue. 


Bitch Rate - 2/5 


Set List:

1. Deer 
2. Pride 
3. April Fool 
4. 100 Dollars 
5. My Friend Marcus 
6. Pale Black Eye 
7. I've Got Friends 
8. Pensacola 
9. I Can Barely Breathe 
10. Shake It Out 
11. Simple Math 
12. Colly Strings 
13. The Only One 
14. Encore:
14. Virgin 
15. Everything To Nothing 
16. The River 
17. Turn Out The Lights (Willie Nelson Cover)