Live Review: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets performed an energetic sold-out performance in The Pink Room at YES- one of Manchester’s newer and more intimate gig venues. Having only discovered this unique band in the past few months I was unsure how their psych rock music would come across live, but they didn’t disappoint, and the impact of their music live was something I won’t forget.

Most of their songs comprise of catchy licks, intricate melodies, and psychedelic effects- quite a distinctive sound- I would encourage fans of the likes of Pond and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard to give their stuff a listen. They played a lovely set-list of songs including a few newer ones to keep the crowd on their toes and kept a consistent upbeat pace throughout which the crowd quite happily formed multiple mosh-pits. The venue was packed with fans from all over coming to watch Australian hailing Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and the atmosphere was buzzing from start to finish.

Some of my favourites that they played included: ‘Found God in a Tomato’, ‘Marmalade March’, ‘Dependent on Mary’- to which the entire of the front of the crowd sat in lines and rowed in formation to the beat, jumping up at the bridge and going wild to the flawlessly played guitar solo. ‘Keen for Kick Ons?’ one of their newer tracks released earlier this year, and a classic- ‘Cubensis Lenses’ also got the crowd going wild.

With their distinct style and unusual name and I was happily surprised to find the venue bursting from the seams, the glowing room of pink made for an enthralling setting for this foursome, and they dominated the stage and the room with the grace of a band who know exactly what they want from a gig.

Having been introduced to the band by seeing some of their music videos on YouTube consisting of outer-space themed psychedelic graphics, I would have loved for them to have some visuals to go along with the glistening smoky pink lights. Another thing I wished for was an encore, with the crowd chanting “Psychedelic Porn Crumpets” to the rhythm of ‘7 Nation Army’ and clapping for the band to play one more song, I felt slightly amiss as they failed to return- the set being relatively short considering the amount of excitement they elicited from the audience.

Despite this, the ending of their set was incredible- finishing with their most loved and much-anticipated track ‘Cornflake’ the room completely erupted. Pressed against the speakers at the front of the stage close enough to touch the lead singer, behind me a crowd of strangers throwing themselves at each other in one giant mosh pit- it was everything I didn’t expect but had hoped for from the night.

PPC are a relatively new band and I expect the next time they play in Manchester they will sell out a much bigger venue- so keep an eye out for future tickets as these are a band that you should pay attention to.

For a taste of their psychedelic wonderment check out: ‘Cornflake’  and also their newest music video ‘Keen For Kick Ons?’.

8/10