Berries at Gulliver's Manchester

By Christina Sylvester and Nicholas Howells.

The Northern Quarter in Manchester is known for its hip & quirky staples, but few have been quite as long tenured as Gulliver’s Pub. The venue has never been known for any further gimmicks, so all the talking is left to the acts on stage. We stopped in on Berries’ headline tour to see what they had to say.

Photo by Christina Sylvester.

Hot off a Leeds show with Eurika Machines and also a matinee show at FC United of Manchester, hometowners The Empty Page are clearly passionate about playing in whatever circumstance they can. For a band whose opening track is called ‘You’re Tame’, these guys are anything but. Rooted very much in the art-punk genre, the Kerouac-inspired band land a space on the bill tonight as the sole support.

Gulliver’s is one of Manchester’s cosier venues but a crowd this size for a support act could genuinely be worth a headline slot with The Empty Page’s name on it. Latest singles ‘Dry Ice’ and ‘Level Sedentary’ are part of the setlist, while they also dip into the back catalogue of ‘Big Wheel’ & ‘Cracks in the Surface’ from 2016’s Unfolding.

Photos by Christina Sylvester.

Lead vocalist Kel’s hands are literally shaking with excitement at points during their set and the band channel that into some frenetic Scott Pilgrim-esque tunes. The band also drop the juicy news that there is a lot more to come in terms of them releasing new music this year. They go for broke with the set list and jam two final songs in with 2016’s ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ before finishing on ‘When the Cloud Explodes’. The way they went about this is perfectly emblematic of the attitude the music scene needs when faced with the problems it has had since covid, which is that they are going to get whatever they can in the time they have. Between this and a sly mention to a currently unannounced show that we need to keep our eyes peeled for, they certainly made the most of their minutes.

The moment is ripe when Berries follow onto the stage. The room seems to have filled out even further and to those unfamiliar it would seem as though these three are just up there for a Jake session. The trio seem very comfortable on stage, contrary to what Holly Carter on Guitar/Vocals would claim at a few points throughout the set.

Photos by Christina Sylvester.

The Berries’ setlist is absolutely packed; opening songs ‘Spiral’ & ‘The Expert’ bring people into the room on what they’ve been doing recently before they dipped into older tracks ‘Siren’ and 2019’s ‘Lies’. Despite ‘Siren’ being on 2022’s ‘How We Function’ release, they’ve actually had it in their repertoire for 7 years. It’s worth mentioning this tidbit as listening to it live versus the 2016 single shows how they’ve brought it forward with their sound over time. It’s still one of their groovier tracks but they’ve certainly added pep to it for performance in the live show.

A brief cider break for Lauren Cooper on bass is all that really holds the set up in the early going before they’re onto song 5 - most recent release and personal favourite of the evening, ‘Control’. The tenacity of the band to hammer through a 13-song set in the time they did is a great reflection of their work ethic as they’ve already had a busy 6 months in company with Jim Bob, Skinny Lister, & Frank Turner. It’s nice to see the humble approach from the band in the short interludes mid set, as they on a few occasions gush in admiration of The Empty Page, with Lexi on drums having been front and centre earlier on in the night for them.

Photos by Christina Sylvester.

There’s little time to breathe between songs, except for the Lexi-mandated drink break from behind the kit. Here really is the ‘business end’ of the set as they play the bulk of the ‘How We Function’ release save for 3 songs off that record; the only one of last year's singles they missed playing being ‘Haze’. Particular standouts are the one-two punch of the other two singles, ‘Wall of Noise’ and ‘We are Machines’. Only putting it down to taste, ‘Wall of Noise’ seems to be the better received track in a live setting, but you can completely understand them putting ‘Machines’ on last given it has the “How We Function” motif in there lyrically.

The band are actually robbed of their “walk off” moment before any encore given Gulliver’s size, and the only way off for them was into the crowd. Holly plays this off very well though by joking about hiding behind the stage curtains for the sake of the pantomime, before launching straight into 2019’s ‘Silent’. The band seemed a perfect fit for a place like Gulliver’s and it’s safe to say this set was pretty faultless (save for Lexi’s loss of drumsticks before the encore, but we’ll let that slide). Holly mentioned in the set how it was their first venue in Manchester years ago, and this tour felt like a happy homecoming for them. Their next date post-tour is with Sleeper in April, at the Parish, Huddersfield. We for one are very excited to see where they pop up in town next after that, and who with.