John Power live in Manchester: A breathless solo set from the Cast frontman

It’s fair to say that when The Mancunion visited Academy 3, we may have lowered the mean age inside the venue by at least a decade. John Power’s legacy in two of the seminal British bands of the 80s and 90s (Cast and The La’s) may have preceded him, but this is by no means an artist who has rested on his laurels out for a payday.

Ethereal under the smoke and lights with his wild, silver hair, John Power enchanted the crowd with the wit and wisdom of his 56 years, but the voice and energy of a man far younger. His energy was certainly on full display during this gig. Clocking in at just over an hour, he managed to play 18 songs in this period, often transitioning two, three, or even four songs seamlessly into one another.

It was hard to tell whether this gig and tour were a warmup for a likely Cast tour (with an album due to be announced soon) or just for fun for Power, but the bulk of the material (excluding the first four songs which were solo material) was Cast’s greatest hits. Highlights included a triple threat of La’s songs (‘Son of a Gun’, ‘Timeless Melody’, and ‘Over’) and the first two tracks off the new Cast’s 2023 album Identities. Based on the strength of the acoustic version of these two numbers, there’s certainly palpable excitement for the full-band version.

Admittedly, there was fear that it might be hard for Power to translate the energy of Cast into a solo set, but with the aid of a distortion pedal on his acoustic guitar, he kept the set bouncing along at a quick tempo without it ever feeling rushed. Certainly, as mentioned earlier, a lot of the crowd appeared to be here due to the strength of Mr Power’s past bands and Cast’s back catalogue went down well with sing-alongs aplenty. However, there was plenty of enjoyment to be found in his solo material, with some of the crowd almost wishing he had included some more of those songs in the setlist.

The atmosphere at the gig was very mellow and friendly. At one point, during one of the brief occasions he stopped to talk in between songs, it appeared as if there was a heckle from the crowd as a punter shouted at Power to “get on with it.” It turned out, however, to just be one of the singer’s friends that he had put on the guest list having a laugh with him. A noticeable Liverpudlian contingent had made their way east along the M62 to support a hometown hero, which added to the convivial atmosphere within the Academy.

John Power’s gig was a successful return to Manchester, and we could easily have listened for hours more. It appears as if he may be coming through again soon with Cast as entourage and based on the strength of this performance, we recommend seeking that out when it’s announced – we know we will be.

Words by Arlo Cooper and Jake Mitchell