What seemed like another innocent punk gig, turned out to be way dirtier, sweatier, and energetic than I could ever imagine. I attended The Chats’ 4th date on their Get Fucked album tour at Manchester Academy. After being boasted for their high-level teenage angst with a hint of Australia by my friend who came with me, I wasn’t disappointed.
This was the first time I’ve seen The Chats, but I sort of knew what I was getting into. Before the band even came on, I was drenched in sweat and booze and was just wet for pretty much the entire night. I could instantly tell that security were worried about the night’s proceedings even before both support acts played, having more security than you would typically see at any other gig. I’m sure I’d agree with Head of Security’s decision if I knew the headlining act called the audience a “c#nt” between most songs and were known for their no-nonsense punk rock.
The band barely had any breaks between their songs, flowing into one another flawlessly, not giving anyone time to breathe. Their set was only an hour long but managed to fit in 25 songs within that time, after I was worried it would be a late affair having seen the set times prior, on Twitter.
The Chats opened with second EP track ‘Nambored’ which instantly gained me a pint pot thrown at the back of my head, can’t say I didn’t expect it! The band went on to play a couple of covers with a Wiggles song making an appearance, can’t get more punk rock than The Wiggles!
They play everything at 100 mph and yet the crowd are shouting back every word “All I Need is a Buck or Two” during fan favourite ‘Bus Money’ and equally ‘Identity Theft’ lifted the levels further.
Much to my (unfortunate) surprise, the Aussie three-piece weren’t one for encores, so when they went off after closing track ‘Pub Feed’, they were genuinely gone. It didn’t stop punters from asking for a few more songs regardless of this.
Overall, my first live experience with The Chats was a memorable one, I listened to their most recent album briefly beforehand, but to my disappointment they didn’t even play half of the new songs, with most of the set consisting of tracks from their first album High Risk Behaviour. Would’ve loved to hear more of the new songs.
Anyhow, if you love no breaks between songs, teenage angst, a touch of self-awareness and those who live in the land down under, then I highly recommend seeing The Chats at any point.
See the view from the pit, captured by Tom Sunderland:
Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.
