MANCHESTER APOLLO HOSTS JAMES AND FRIENDS FOR THE VERY FIRST ‘MUSIC FEEDS LIVE’
STARSAILOR, THE SLOW READERS CLUB, THE FARM AND LYR AMONGST STARS RAISING MONEY FOR THE TRUSSELL TRUST
Tuesday 27th February 2024 and charity fundraiser event MUSIC FEED LIVE goes live on stage for the first time ever. Since its inception back in 2021, Music Feeds Live has grown from as an online only music festival to a star studded line up at Manchester’s O2 Apollo.
A concert to fight food poverty, Music Feeds Live is the brainchild of Saul Davies (James) and his partner Vanda Guerreiro. Beginning as a virtual two day live event during the Covid-19 Pandemic, they hosted the likes of Fontaines D.C, Liam Gallagher, Blossoms and Kyle Falconer (The View) in a successful attempt to raise money for food poverty charities. Accomplishing a staggering £1 million for the charity Fairshare, the event also supported the Co-op initiative to provide the over 2.4m school meals. Three years later, and the UK food poverty pandemic is at crisis point and fed up seeing the damage and doing nothing about it, Saul and Vanda teamed up with Cuffe and Taylor (Live Nation Promoters) to raise £150,000 for The Trussell Trust through the median of live music.
The evening’s events started sharp with performances showcasing the evenings diverse line up. Noughties indie band The Reads kicked off proceedings before local artist Ellen Beth Abdi took the podium; Norwegian EDM producer ASSA was keen to get the crowd moving before Idol Giants broke through with their infectious comforting indie pop melodies. Keeping the crowd entertained between the quick set change-overs were special guest presenters Chris Hawkins (BBC Radio 6 DJ) and footballing legends turned commentators, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher bringing some much needed laughs to the night.
Joining all the acts on stage this evening was the sensational Joe Duddell Orchestra, bringing fresh life and one-off arrangements to the music as we know it. Becoming known to James’ Saul Davies over the years, Joe Duddall‘s 22 piece orchestra recorded and subsequently went on tour with James last year with their double sided ‘Be Opened By The Wonderful’.
“We worked with them in 2011, then last year on this tour and we’re going to do an extra couple of shows with them in the summer including headlining festivals with the orchestra” Saul told us ahead of the show. “I mean, I’m not actually a big fan of bands doing orchestral stuff as I think it can cross the mark. But I genuinely think in our case that we’re lucky that we have Joe, an amazing orchestra and we have some good songs? Right? And it worked. Some of the best songs which worked with the orchestra wasn’t the most obvious songs that people know us for but I don’t think that’s a problem.“ (full preview interview with Saul HERE)
Moving on through the line up and next up were some of Manchester’s own; indie risers Rosellas brought striking energy to the room before singer/songwriters Liam Frost and Tom A Smith delivered their respective performances. London based multi-instrumentalist, Cetty charmed the eager crowds with her delightful stripped back set.
Probably making the biggest commute to this evenings event are First Breath After Coma; Portuguese based rock band who Saul admits “they are one of my new favourite bands actually – kind of post rock. For me it’s just really nice to showcase this band.” Next up, one of the finest collaborations of the evening with Joe Duddall’s orchestra was Simon Armitage’s LYR where the renowned English poet’s work is sublimely complimented by the grandeur of the orchestral arrangement.
Evidently one of the most anticipated appearances of charity night was The Slow Readers Club, who did not let down. It’s the brass section which add the most swag to the Manchester bands better known anthemic tunes. The evening progresses swiftly and with every change-over introduction, Manchester’s Apollo theatrical walls continue to fill with James fans eager to see the bands core team, Tim (Booth), Jim (Glennie) Saul (Davies), Andy (Diagram) and Dave (Baynton-Power) perform previously unheard renditions of James classics. Before that though, a few more artists are still due to grace the Apollo stage.
Transporting crowds back to the 90’s is Trance pioneer DJ Chiccane, setting the nostalgic tone for the next trio of acts. The Farm, who have recently returned to the new music radar with recent singles including Let The Music (Take Control), continue the rocketing atmosphere in the room with nostalgic nods ‘Groovy Train’ and ‘Altogether Now’ from 1991’s debut No.1 charting album Spartacus. As imagined, adding a 22 piece orchestra to such hits created something uniquely inspiring.
Keeping the momentum flowing were Starsailor who, like The Farm, are making a welcome return to the singles game with their latest single ‘Dead on The Money’ dropping earlier in the month. Amongst other tracks performed was 2001’s ‘Alcoholic’ which took a whole new level of goosebumps with the string accompaniment.
The headline of the evening is, of course, festival founder Saul Davies own band, James. Celebrating 40 years of James last year, the bands longevity is a credit to the the fans who stand by the band in all their formations. Tonight, it’s not a full band performance but a collective of Jim, Tim, Saul, Andy and Dave plus guest appearance for the iconic Rowetta and, well, a full 22 piece orchestra.
First single from their forthcoming album Yummy, ‘Is This Love’ makes its live debut this evening succeed by well rehearsed orchestral rendition of ‘Say Something’. Saul promised something special from tonight’s set and he meant it when ‘Government Walls’ from 1990 breakthrough album Gold Mother is echoed throughout the Manchester Apollo. Rumouredly the first live outing in over 30 years, the track choice is just as poignantly relevant today, echoing all the reasoning for the event itself.
“We just see it around us all the time and you see the deep impact that poverty has around us. It becomes like one big unmovable block where people think ‘I can’t do anything about this’. It’s so deep rooted now that we can’t do anything about it. It’s normalised and it always has been like that but the numbers are bigger and it’s deeper because its been going on longer. People’s expectations are a lot different now. We grow up in a different world that we want more and we should have more and we should be able to provide. There really shouldn’t be people hungry in the UK.” – Saul Davies
Closing the evenings spectacular event with ‘Tomorrow’, ‘She’s A Star’ and their biggest hit ‘Laid’, the crowd let out a thundering roar of applause as the charity event came to a climatic end. Whatever your personal auditory preferences, any music fan would be pushed to not be moved by the compelling energy in the room. A stellar evening of entertainment all around and all for a very worthy cause with The Trussell Trust.
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