Simon Rushworth
@ Manchester Moho Live, August 31 2010
Fresh from blistering sets at Reading and Leeds Festival Paint It Black returned to more intimate surroundings as the Philadelphia hardcore punk band rolled into Manchester’s Moho Live.
Moho provided an excellent venue for the night’s entertainment – with very little security around and no gap between artists and fans!
The evening’s bill was a very impressive one with Paint It Black joined by Blacklisted, This Is Hell, Off With Their Heads and local band Hammers.
After Hammers toddled off it was the turn of Minneapolis punks Off With Their Heads who provided an excellent 30 minutes of solid punk with one enthusiastic follower joining the band on stage to sing pretty much every song.
A brief respite before This Is Hell stepped up began to tear into Moho with their brand of no-frills hardcore and powered through their new album Weight Of The World before ending on the superb Permanence. It was good to see the New York band back on form after a disappointing set at Leeds Festival two days prior.
Blacklisted managed to warm up the crowd no end with the Moho finally bursting into action as their barefooted front man conducted the audience perfectly to the swings of yet more crunching riffs and ear drum battering vocals.
The stage was set for Paint It Black and for those in attendance it became more of a punk rock love in than a sweaty basement show. Every word front man Dan Yemin screamed he was mobbed by at least ten fans and it only added to the experience.
Bass player Andy Nelson pointed out that Manchester was now his favourite city and the most polite of the tour as a girl tied his shoelace back up mid-song. Paint It Black continued to thrash through tunes like Salem and Homesick.
Yemin made the venue his own and brought the pure core of punk to Moho and has charisma to rival any front man. Yemin even stopped the show to break up a fight that seemed to be brewing on the stairs.
As quickly as this evening had started it ended abruptly with Yemin thanking his highly passionate audience before exiting through the crowd and, as before, was mobbed all the way to the exit.
Tom Walsh