With sweat dripping from the ceiling and pints flung like javelins, Sports Team debut their Boys These Days tour as they undertake an acrobatic display in Manchester’s Club Academy.
Artificial fog stings the noses of the crowd as support band Welly enter the stage, dressed head-to-toe in what appear to be school P.E. kits. Their set is fittingly gymnastic; the frontman writhes around the stage, each quirk and mannerism more Albarn-istic than the last.
The band hold a beautiful rapport with the crowd, barking instructions which are swiftly met with punctual response. With a mixture of post-punk, Britpop excitement, the band settle the venue into the night, slinking off the stage like a gym mat dragged across a sports hall floor.
As the crowd bays, Mary in The Junkyard enter the stage, met with emphatic applause. The band settle the room as lyrics are shot out into the audience; a moment of calm before the headline act. Each song is beautiful, sent into the air before dissipating into a gorgeous tension. Every word builds the crowd’s excitement, who lap up every passing gaze from singer Clari Freeman-Taylor.
Sweat hangs thick in the air, a vale of smoke descends over act and audience. Lights shoot into the crowd, illuminating the feeling of jubilation in the room.
As the band exit the stage, a glittering sense of anticipation fills the room. Each sound and onstage movement sparks another cry for the band’s appearance, each louder than the last.
In answer, the lights dim. Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’ fills the room, a fitting soundtrack for the band’s highly awaited return.
Sports Team enter the stage, clad in scarves and sunglasses, the band soak up the atmosphere in the room, wringing it out with every scream.
Frontman Alex Rice begins the set stationary, poised at the microphone like a boxer ready to fight. He wears a towel on his head, to the amusement of the crowd, which he subsequently flings into the mass. The band rip through ‘The Game’, the opening track of their second album, before the room erupts into applause.
As the set progresses, each member comes alive, jerking and lurching to each beat and pulse. Rice conducts the crowd, begging for more on every line.
In breaks between songs, the singer speaks to the crowd individually, interrogating the front row as to “when they first saw Sports Team.” Rice smirks as he receives rapturous response from the room.
Each song is injected with energy and euphoria, the crowd is acrobatic and every track feels more like a workout than a live performance. Each and every person bounces, the floor shakes as shoes pound the surface to the beat of Alex Greenwood‘s drums.
The track ‘Camel Crew’ is a particular highlight, and this elation is felt throughout the room. Alex Rice grins as the room hears the opening notes of the song, fully aware of the hold he has over Club Academy. The crowd opens to reveal a pit; hundreds throw themselves in as the chorus kicks in.
Rice periodically leaves and re-enters the stage, allowing rhythm guitarist Henry Young a turn on lead vocals, particularly effective during the song ‘Lander’.
As the set begins to conclude, Rice enters the crowd, forcing adoring punters out his way to reach the centre of the Club Academy floor. Fans ruffle the singer’s hair, as he performs, complete with mic stand, in the venue’s pit.
At the climax, the crowd lifts Rice into the ceiling, surging to press further towards the frontman’s elevated body. Security look on in fear, urging the singer to return to the safety of the barrier.
Sports Team’s set at Club Academy epitomised the furore of live music. Their set was electric and exciting, the band maintaining the quirks of their sound cemented on record.
It’s impossible to deny the re-emergence of guitar music into the mainstream. Sports Team prove they are up to the challenge of bearing the torch and leading the way.
Sports Team’s third album Boys These Days releases on February 28 2025 via Distiller Records.
