The Lottery Winners Burning House Party Night 1 – Manchester Academy – 27th December

After a bit of a nightmare getting into the venue (what else would you expect from Manchester Academy?) I finally got into Academy 1 for the first of three nights from Manchester’s own The Lottery Winners.

I haven’t listened to them much but I did get the pleasure of seeing them perform when they opened for Nickelback, yes that Nickelback back in March of this year. They were a surprise that evening and were a delightful band to listen to and were one I wanted to listen to more I just never got around to checking out more of their set.

On the first night of their Burning House Party shows, they promised to play their first and second albums along with the hits from their catalog with an equally filled support catalog and a guest DJ for the night.

Harriet Rose

Opening up the evening was Harriet Rose. Opening the night with a stripped-back acoustic set was a strong way to warm the crowd up for an evening of music. The six-song set was exactly what we’ve come to expect from acoustic indie musicians but that wasn’t a problem at all. Harriet Rose’s powerful vocals and excellent songwriting helped her stand apart and feel original from others.

Whilst not a massive name in the scene, she had a loyal amount of fans who had come for doors to be in at the barrier for her set, and those who may have not known her definitely joined in for her rendition of Heavyweight Champion of the World by Reverend and the Makers.

After having a look after the show I did see that she usually performs with a full band as opposed to being just an acoustic singer and I am curious to see how her set is when she has a full band especially knowing she will be performing another gig in Manchester in the new year.

Tom A. Smith

Leading on from Harriet was Tom A Smith. I haven’t listened to him before but I had a friend in secondary school who was a big fan of him so have seen his name come up in the scene for about six years now (God time flies).

This was an incredibly fun set to watch and Tom is one to watch going into 2025. His songs are incredibly aggressive when they want to be and as a frontman, his ability to command a crowd puts him up there with frontmen who have been established in the business for years. All of this is great praise for someone but for Tom is amazing for only being 20 years old.

This was definitely on show the most during the final song of the set Never Got Enough. Hearing the crowd singing the song back to him to close out the set was a great sight to watch and definitely showed he had earned the respect of those who may have not been familiar with him and those who already knew of his music.

I can’t talk about his set without also mentioning the rest of his band who performed amazingly and matched the energy that Tom brings onto the stage. My condolences go out to all of the band as a few days before this show someone broke into the band’s Van and stole all of their equipment.

If anyone wants to donate to their GoFundMe to support the band getting new equipment the link is here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/aey5r-didnt-want-to-do-this

The Lilacs

Wrapping up the support acts for this evening is The Lilacs. These guys could easily play the venue as a headliner. Opening with Sally they got the crowd off their feet and ready for the nine-song set they had prepared for them.

They gave me one of the best moments I have seen at a gig in a long time. When getting ready to perform their song Grace there was a kid who got onto his dad’s shoulders flag in hand with the band name on it and Grace also written on it. That reminds me exactly what music is about.

Bringing people together. Seeing people sharing a love of a band or a song will always be one of my favorite moments as a musician and a fan of music myself.

The Lilacs are a love letter to everything indie, and they have managed to create their mark in the scene and have the entire 2600-capacity crowd behind them. My favorite track of the set was their 2019 single Vicarage Road.

It shows off lead singer Ollie Anglesea’s ability on vocals with an incredibly catchy melody paired with Sam Birchall’s earworm of a guitar riff that was stuck in my head for the next few days after the gig.

I wanna see a lot more of the Lilacs in the next couple of years. As someone who isn’t a massive indie fan, I can’t place what it is that makes me like these guys so much but there is just an inherent charm to them and I’ve found myself putting them on a few times since especially their latest release Where’ve You Been Hiding which if you haven’t heard please go and listen to.

Was also great to see DJ Clint Boon playing between the sets and of course, closing out with Don’t Look Back in Anger which no matter how many times I hear it will always give me goosebumps hearing it sung by a crowd.

The Lottery Winners

It was time for The Lottery Winners to take the stage, and who else could bring them out to but a bit of Robbie? Walking out to Let Me Entertain You lead singer Thom Rylance came out with the rest of the band with swagger commanding the stage and getting ready to put on a show.

Before I talk about how good this show was, I must mention one thing. The poster advertised the Friday set as being Album 1 and 2 and their hits. Whilst they did play a good number of songs off the album going into the show I did believe it was going to be all of the first two albums along with their hits from later albums. The 15 song set did include a good number of tracks from both but was not all of the songs. It didn’t take away from the show at all but could have been cleared up better to avoid my confusion at the 15 song set (unless I am being dense).

What a show this was, opening with Times Are Changing I was reminded of how mental Thom is when he’s on the stage. His being glad that they have fake merch being sold outside of the venue whilst a joke is a genuine sign that the band has made it despite being the most ridiculous way that you could possibly realize that you have made it in this world.

Another notable favorite of mine was The Meaning of Life from their 2020 self-titled album. One of the other sweet moments of the evening was during the song 21 where they brought fan Johnny Blaze onto the stage to play with them. After the song, Thom let the 18-year-old keep the guitar which he had written almost all of the Lottery Winners songs on since the first album. It was a great moment too.

There was a good amount of antics throughout the set such as The Lilacs re-joining the stage donning goat masks to do Superpower and finally closing out the night with Burning House which might be my favorite song in their catalog (well if we don’t include the Rockstar Sea Shanty).

They are a band that are absolutely worth going to watch and if you want to see them live they will be heading out on tour with Robbie Williams during his summer tour across the UK, Ireland, and Europe.