Australia’s Confidence Man are quickly establishing themselves as one of the greatest live forces around today. With the release of their aptly titled third album 3 AM (LA LA LA) last year came critical acclaim, festival slots, and now a night to curate The Warehouse Project. Despite 2025’s season at The Warehouse Project being stacked with exciting events and dream-like line-ups, Confidence Man’s takeover was guaranteed to be one of the highlights, and the group lived up to expectations with their own live set, DJ set back-to-back with dance music legend Erol Alkan, and a host of invited artists who all brought something different to the event.
Despite being a collaborator of Confidence Man’s on a song with over a million Spotify streams, fellow Australians IN2STELLAR opened the concourse stage to a small crowd. However, their set proved the perfect way to ease into the night, being filled with the deep cuts of dance music as well as recent hits such as ‘Illegal’, the viral track by PinkPantheress which has attracted many remixes. As the hour-and-a-half slot progressed and more ticketholders entered the venue, the floor became less sparse, although it seemed as if most early arrivals headed straight to the back of the depot to witness Real Lies perform their live show.
Real Lies released their third album We Will Annihilate Our Enemies this April, but the intensity and euphoria it is imbued with were unable to translate live. This was not a fault of their own, but served to highlight that the Depot Mayfield space is not made for live vocals, and particularly unsuited to the half-sung, half-narrated, conversational style adopted by Real Lies. Nevertheless, they brought a taste of their introspective, house-influenced music and alternative style to The Warehouse Project’s archive stage, being flanked by two backing dancers and utilising the impressive lighting running across the room’s ceiling.
At the depot’s main space, however, Stockport native Antony Szmierek managed to prevail. Opening with ‘Circle of Light’, an ecstatic track which professes that “it’s going to be a good night”, Szmierek was accompanied by screens reading “ANTONY SZMIEREK IS CONFIDENT”. ‘Twist Forever’ followed, continuing Szmierek’s aptly chosen, dance-centric setlist and contrasting the atmospheric spoken-word poetry piece he performed to open last year’s Northern Music Awards, which were hosted in Manchester.
‘The Great Pyramid of Stockport’ is always bound to be a highlight within an Antony Szmierek set, with lyrics centred around the former Co-Operative Bank building that he has admitted to being “obsessed with”. Despite this outward show of affection, the song’s lyricism has biting undertones that hint towards a criticism of the capitalist system, featuring lines such as “Imagine what the Pharaohs could do with a four-day working week, and a three-fingered Twix”.
Szmierek followed this with ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Fallacy’ and the ever-euphoric ‘Rafters’, before treating the crowd to an unreleased song in the form of ‘Dave’s Angling Superstore’.
Pausing before his final song, Szmierek stated “I’m really happy to be here, on my t-shirt I’ve got Hayley Cropper from Coronation Street”. This wasn’t just a tribute to Manchester’s soap opera heritage, however, as he continued “She was one of the first transgender people on television, transgender people have been here for a long time and they’re not going anywhere”. Szmierek himself wasn’t the only person on stage with a great shirt, however, as the drummer of his live band adorned a Girls Love Techno piece designed by Kelly Lee Owens, another pioneer in modern dance music who is no stranger to The Warehouse Project herself.
If any Antony Szmierek song were to close his set, it would have to be ‘The Words to Auld Lang Syne’, a track which balances self-reflection and letting loose, recognising “None of these jobs existed in the Stone Age, and they’ll disappear in a hundred years’ time”.
Previously, Szmierek has been known to denounce New Year’s Eve, to which the song refers, as “quite difficult” due to “the pressure to party, the reflecting and the looming resolutions”. Instead, he insists upon having “New Year’s Eve when you need it, even in the middle of July”, which materialised through a “Happy New Year” chant that preceded the song. “Thank you for being so kind to us, it’s going to take a while to get over this”, Szmierek affirmed, lauding the crowd’s energy before departing.
In preparation for Confidence Man’s live headline set, Romy of The xx was called upon for a DJ set filled wall-to-wall with party classics including Sugababes’ ‘Push the Button’. ‘Waited All Night’, Romy’s collaboration with bandmates Jamie xx and Oliver Sim, proved to be the hour’s highlight track, undoubtedly ranking amongst the best dance tracks of last year. It’s also undeniably refreshing to see a DJ noticeably experiencing the euphoria in the music they play: Romy’s visible smiles were infectious throughout the set, and the impression she left carried the crowd through the half-hour wait for the night’s main attraction.
Everything about Confidence Man is entertaining, even down to their stage design and watching crew members in shirts reading “PROPERTY OF CONFIDENCE MAN” blow up spiky silver inflatables to hold Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie, the band’s live drummer and DJ who both operate under pseudonyms. The set may have been shorter than their performance at Manchester Academy as part of a headline tour last year, and only slightly longer than the set they brought to BBC Radio One’s Big Weekend and Parklife Festival, but the limited set time left Confidence Man no choice but to bounce from hit to hit.
After opening with their DJ Seinfeld collaboration ‘Now U Do’, the group launched straight into ‘Does It Make You Feel Good?’ and ‘ALL MY PEOPLE’ — the latter of which landed them a viral moment upon its release. Following 3 AM (LA LA LA) single ‘I CAN’T LOSE YOU’, ‘Firebreak’ was performed by Goodchild and McGuffie, allowing Janet Planet and Sugar Bones time for an outfit change, and the next segment of the show began with ‘Feels Like A Different Thing’. During ‘C.O.O.L. Party’, Sugar Bones drenched the crowd with a bottle of prosecco, before the front-duo departed once again.
‘BREAK IT DOWN (ON THE BASSLINE)’ allowed the depot’s potential for remarkable visuals to shine, with Confidence Man opting for bizarre animations including images of head-bopping pigeons, before Janet and Sugar returned to the stage. The group’s recent single ‘gossip’ in collaboration with Little Mix star JADE was bound to provide a highlight in their set, as was ‘Boyfriend (Repeat)’ — the breakout hit from their debut album. ‘REAL MOVE TOUCH’ brought their indie-electronica euphoria to the fore, while ‘SO WHAT’ saw Janet pacing the front row atop Sugar’s shoulders, encouraging the crowd to do the same.
As usual, ‘Holiday’ was chosen as the final song of Confidence Man’s live set: As it drew to a close, Janet Planet declared “Manchester, you might be our best crowd yet”. ‘Holiday’ didn’t bring the night as a whole to an end, however, as it was left to Sofia Kourtesis and HUNEE to perform heavy-handed DJ sets before Confidence Man themselves made their return at the concourse for an exultant back-to-back with musical polymath and electronic royalty Erol Alkan.
It’s difficult to put Confidence Man’s curation of The Warehouse Project into words, but if it came down to one, it would be euphoric. Every act on the lineup brought their own unique and entertaining spin on dance music, making for a night characterised by pure talent and elation. Now, it’s up to the other curated nights to match Confidence Man’s quality, but it goes without saying that the group are at the top of their game in every way, and will therefore be hard to beat.
