Merge brought a flare of French magic to Rebellion

Merge performed a crisp and energetic set on Monday, at Manchester’s Rebellion, but one thing was missing. A Crowd.

The turn out to the gig could literally be counted on two hands. That’s including members of the support bands too.

For a band that provide such a polished product it was astonishing that hardly anyone showed up.

Perhaps the thousands of people following them online are based in France and they need to attract a U.K crowd.

All performing bands did however put on a cracking show for the few that went.

The first one to storm the stage, waking you up with a bit of post-hardcore/rock, was Bad Machines.

They were pumped up, with a youthful energy; the frontman threw himself around the stage in dizzying spins, so it was no wonder he was so out of breath between songs.

It was their first show of the year and called themselves a ‘lazy band’, as it had been seven months since they released ‘A Life Of Chasing Butterflies’, on Spotify.

Listen to it here:

They do need to refine their performance though, as the sound was frequently muffled, meaning their set seemed more style over substance.

But, they show promise and would be a great addition to festivals like Download.

A stand out moment for them was a cover of Every Time I Die’s ‘Moor’.

Next up was Alt-rock band True Heights, after they fooled around on stage setting up.

By this point there was also a couple more people in the crowd too.

The guys in True Heights certainly like to create an atmosphere, with lighting and sound, as they dramatically entered the stage.

It was ace to see them playing a stage in Manchester that all six of them could fit on for once.

Although, the way Zakk Poland threw himself around and into the crowd you’d think it wasn’t big enough.

‘Exit Route’ was their opener, followed by ‘Don’t Look Down’.

They put on a calorie burning set; sweating buckets as they made their way through.

Every now and then, there was a plume of smoke engulfing guitarist Alex Harry, which looked akin to a fart in a slapstick cartoon.

They put a new spin on ‘No Tomorrow’ by performing it acoustically; proving they aren’t just one-trick ponies, they can in fact do more than just be loud and energetic.

The song itself had a deeper emotional feel acoustic, but it did highlight the fact that the vocal harmonies needed to be tighter.

A couple of tech issues caused a bit of a hindrance to the end of ‘Catalyst’ too.

However, on whole, it was a decent set, with ‘Still Moving Colour’ and ‘Frank’ sounding particularly epic.

This is a single from their latest release ‘Days We Found’:

What separated the supports from Merge though, was the quality in sound, lighting and performance; all coming together in one clean-cut set.

The start of Merge’s set was disturbed by a tech fault, meaning no one could hear the guitarist.

After some fumbling about on the stage, it was all fixed and the band continued to play, as though there was no problem- a sign of real professionalism.

Merge have a very distinctive sound; blending electronics smoothly over alt-rock, with a feminine touch to the vocals, similar to Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn.

Their up-tempo tracks are well-suited for a venue packed with head bangers and mosh pits. Unfortunately, they didn’t get that.

In terms of showmanship, they are less flamboyant, but it doesn’t matter, as the perfection of their sound and songs are enough to keep you engaged.

They did get people clapping along, however, given the poor turn out it failed to make much of an impact.

The band did add little touches to the set, such as the drummer doing the odd trick with his drumsticks (not all going quite to plan) and blindingly bright lighting to create a mood for each song.

Merge showed their sense of humour when chatting between songs, as they made fun of themselves, and the French stereotype that they should be romantic sexy people.

Off stage, they were also very pleasant and humble too, when they spoke to fans.

‘The Exit’, ‘Soaring’, ‘Mirage’, ‘Monsters’ and ‘The Getaway’ stood out in their set as exceptional.

Hopefully next time they tour the U.K. they will have a big enough crowd to reflect their smooth and charismatic nature.