WHEN MILLIE MANDERS AND THE SHUTUP HIT 88MPH, YOU’RE GOING TO HEAR SOME SERIOUS STUFF…

LIVE REVIEW | MILLIE MANDERS AND THE SHUTUP – ‘BACK TO THE FUTOUR’ w/ Death Trails | CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER | 18th April 2026 by Craig Harston

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve caught Millie Manders And The Shutup live, the last time being for the album release shows in support of their sophomore effort, the excellent ‘Wake Up, Shut Up, Work’ towards the end of 2024. It’s safe to say that they’ve lost absolutely none of their fire, vitriol or energy over the past couple of years!

Opening the show tonight were Blackpool’s Death Trails, getting the early crowd warmed up on their last night as part of the tour with an excellent set of their hybrid punk rock songs. From the super-fast ‘Live Und Let Live’ and the anti-racism anthem ‘Under One Sky’, via ode to their home town ‘Cage By The Sea’, a punked-up cover of Technotronics ‘Pump Up The Jam’ and finishing with the skacore ‘Ska Dad’, they made sure they left the tour with a bang!

In keeping with the name of their tour, Millie Manders And The Shutup hit the stage – itself decked out with Palestine and Transgender Pride flags – to the ‘Back To The Future’ score before launching into anti-killjoy song ‘Fun Sponge’ (with many of the crowd wielding sponges throughout), ‘Windows’ and brutal renditions of the mad-at-the-world anthems ‘Angry Side’ and ‘Shut Your Mouth’. Millie donned her saxophone next for ‘Obsession Transgression’, followed by a blistering rendition of the never more relevant ‘Can I Get Off?’ and Millie got the crowd off their feet with plenty of pogo’ing throughout ‘Panic’.

Millie then took some time to talk about how she’s sick of being bombarded with ads about changing her physique whenever she opens social media which in turn inspired brand new song ‘Age Disgracefully’, which was played next. A haunting performance of ‘Glitter Mix’ followed (with torches, of course) before an epic singalong on ‘The One That Got Away’. The hard-hitting ‘Me Too’ was up next, highlighting how sexual violence towards women is still a problem and it should always be called out, especially by men to their peers. Then Millie encouraged the room to get their knees up (if they were able) for ska punk banger ‘Right To Live’.

Millie Manders And The Shutup’s most recent single is a cover of Limp Bizkit’s ‘Break Stuff’, which went down a storm here, ahead of a huge singalong on the always excellent ‘Bitter’, with Millie splitting the room to find out which side was loudest on the chorus! Heading into their final songs, Millie pointed out they had two rules for their shows – “Don’t be a dick” and “We don’t do encores” – before finishing with three of their best songs – ‘Your Story’, a fantastic back and forth with the crowd on ‘Rebound’ and ending with the always great ‘Not OK’.

Overall, it was a fun and energetic evening, with plenty of fearless songs to get you thinking about the state of the world, your own mental health and how we should all be excellent to each other!

Add in the world’s happiest bassist – plus Millie‘s excellent custom ‘Pride’ Vans she wore on stage – and you couldn’t really ask for more!

There are a few dates left of on the ‘Back To The Futour” with tickets available here.