Blossoms Cause Fan Frenzy With Spontaneous Hometown Gig

It’s been quite a while since Blossoms have played to a crowd this small, but 250 lucky punters managed to grab tickets to a surprise gig, at recently opened bar and venue ‘YES’, announced only a few hours earlier.

Returning this year with two tours and a second studio album, the Stockport quintet are navigating the traditionally rocky waters of the second album pretty well. Cool Like You reached number four in the charts and both of 2018’s tours sold out in minutes , with a massive homecoming gig booked for summer 2019.

Indeed, you’d have to go back to 2013 when the band first formed to see the lads in such limited company. You might not have known that they’d recently sold out a 10,000 capacity gig in under an hour, from the way they casually strolled onto the tiny stage, tipping the necks of their beers to the crowd.

“Cheers for coming to see us tonight” said lead singer Tom Ogden “Sorry it was such short notice, we hope you’re enjoying yourself, we know we are”

The restricted space couldn’t cramp the band’s style, who looked at home in YES’s ‘Pink room’. Opening with Cool Like You, Ogden’s loosely fitting flared shirt flapped through the pink hue as he swirled the mic around the stage, his wrists doing the walking his feet couldn’t.

Synthy indie pop bounced around the room to a very mixed crowd, the nature of the last-minute tickets squeezing together fans of all shapes and ages. Whether you were getting rowdy at the front, tapping your feet near the back, or wandering in from downstairs looking for the toilet, everyone sang together in great voice.

There was a real feeling of fun wafting through the air as, far away from work as this job may be, it was obvious this was put on to give something back to their local fans. The relaxed atmosphere was being championed by Ogden himself who sprawled himself across the floor during Love Talk and nuzzled, with longing eyes, upon guitarist Josh Dewhurst’s shoulder.

The shades of Morrissey, forcing smirks to sneak on a few faces, were sharply transformed to beaming grins and cheers as they, from nowhere, exploded into a cover of Bigmouth Strikes Again. Delivered with extra snarl, it was safe to say the crowd were fully on board for the Manchester love in.

Fan favourites from both albums were performed with no less vigour for a couple hundered, than a few thousand. My Favourite Room was played, as Ogden likes to do, solo and acoustic as usual. But this tactic’s somewhat ‘bottled’ intimacy felt truly genuine and personal on this occasion, every member of the audience getting a couple seconds of gaze each.

After an encore of ‘Charlemagne’ Blossoms left the stage with little fuss. They may act like they’re small time, but stardom is inevitable. One thing’s for sure, that was special, and I’ll never see them in a room this small again.