A hat-trick of showings on my “2025 Dance Card” for Leigh, Manchester’s quirky indie popsters The Lottery Winners, the previous 2 being their Frank Turner show 3,000 support slot (gig 1,370), followed up by a “Chart Celebration Out-Store” for their “Koko” release, shoe-horned into an utterly rammed Bullingdon Arms (gig 1,382). This one, at Frome’s slightly more spacious excellent old Cheese and Grain Market Hall, also sold out in short order (as did the entirety of the tour, of which this represented the nearest stop to the ‘don), marking The Lottery Winners out as a band on the rise, and quickly… a point underlined by their Wonder Stuff-like plans to headline a “home” Stadium show at Leigh’s LSV Stadium next May!
Fair play to them, but I’ll stick with Frome! So I set off after a quick family errand, also picking up gig buddy Jeremy and his charming wife Becky en route near Bradford-On-Avon. Parked up shortly after doors, but the front was already busy so we settled for a spot 10 rows or so back, house right. Openers Cusp – 2/3rd of them anyway, the drummer absent tonight – were on at 7.45. Their initial set was pleasant but forgettable Britpop indie landfill, the band nailing their colours to the mast somewhat with a dreary yet well-received cover of The Verve’s “Drugs Don’t Work”. However, a later number, “Human Nature”, performed jointly with tiny fellow support Tom A Smith, was better, and I also liked the subsequent plaintive Autumnal number “I Need The Rain”. A quick trip back to the car to point it in the right direction for a quick getaway (which worked, don’t knock it…!), preceded Tom’s own set, next up at 8.15. Looking a lot taller with his own 4-piece backing band (!), he immediately gave me Robbie Williams vibes with a pouting, preening frontman performance, although in vocal style, a more obvious comparison was the laconic nasal delivery of The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas! Musically, his material was a right proper scattergun hotch-potch of influences; some early drum-propelled anthemic rock and “woah-oh” singalongs in “Our Song”, tough and angular Talking Heads/ INXS pop-funk in the singalong “I Don’t Blame You”, and robotic stomping glam punk in closer “Fashion” (no, not that one...!). Overall, I warmed to both supports after some initial reservations.
A quick loo trip saw me back in my spot (initially mistaking someone else for Jeremy!) for the lights to dim, forward strobes to kick in and the Vengabus entrance tune to play, getting the already-excitable crowd properly energised for The Lottery Winners’ 9.15 arrival. “There’s so many people in here; sold out! We’re so famous [now], I’m literally wearing a Prada Jacket – from Temu!” wisecracked frontman Tom Rylance in his joyously effete, “Carry On” voice, easing into the funky sing/ and swayalong opener “Superpower”. The massive choral hook of a weirdly jaunty yet melancholic “Worry” and the Boo-Radleys bouncy Summery driving holiday anthem of “Monaco” followed, Rylance then asking for the house lights up, finally getting his wish after a few false starts and piss-takes, and interacting with some young fans in the front, particularly Elsie, who’d brought him a drawing, announcing, “[Elsie’s made] more effort than the rest of you!”
Thus commenced another unpredictable, circuitous yet highly enjoyable trip through the ADHD-powered brain of one Tom Rylance Esq., where a punter looking at his phone was sufficient cause for Rylance to recite a frankly brilliantly acerbic 5-minute poem about the dangers of phone obsession, a tombola was brought onstage to draw out a non-setlist planned oldie but abandoned in favour of Rylance asking Rob Lally to sing a cover of Lionel Richie’s cheesy 80’s disco hit “All Night Long”, and the forthcoming European tour was celebrated with the brilliant line, “we’ve done 800 tickets in a place called Bochum! I thought that was to do with Bop-It!” Throughout all the clowning and pseudo-comedy routines, however, lies a band capable of delivering infectiously catchy indie-pop and who clearly care about the mental health and well-being of their audience. “Struggling” was initially delivered solo by Rylance on a fan’s guitar, the singer then being joined by Tom A Smith for the affirmative “keep on keeping on” hook; the stately anthem “UFO” was preceded by a self-validating message from Rylance; and closer “Letter To Myself”, admittedly their high watermark for me, was utterly superb, a massive singalong wraparound hug for Rylance’s out-of-place younger self.
The deadpan chant of “Burning House”, the
silly yet participatory dance routine of “Turn Around” and the Frank Turner-esque
“Start Again” were splendid punctuation points to a rousing and fun performance,
Rylance leaving us with his oft-repeated intention to headline the nearby
Glastonbury Festival within 5 years. On this form, he and they might just do that…
Dropped my friends off before a winding non-M4 drive back to the ‘don, home for
12.30, pondering on a line from Rylance mid-set; “is this anyone’s first time
seeing The Lottery Winners? Weird, isn’t it?” Well, yes indeed… weird yet
utterly wonderful!
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