The last and only other time Balu Brigada played in Manchester was to a 21,000-person arena. Supporting Twenty One Pilots on both the North America and UK legs of their 2025 Clancy tour, at the climax of their opening set at AO Arena, the speaker system cut out. The ambition for their show at the comparably smaller 950-capacity venue of Manchester Academy 2? Not a repeat of last time – although, as the older of the two brothers Henry admitted, “that’d kinda be lit if it did”.
Balu Brigada has always been a family affair. Formed in 2016, the band was named Baloo after The Jungle Book character of the same name. Fears of legal troubles from Disney forced the band to rethink, leading to Balu Brigada. Originally four members, eldest brother Charles Beasely and childhood friend of the brothers Guy Harrison left over the next several years, leaving Henry and Pierre as a two-piece.
This tour celebrated the release of their 2025 debut album Portals – an appropriate title, both being recorded over three years between New York, Berlin, and Auckland, and the album dipping in and out of indie and electronic aspects. It feels reminiscent of an earlier 2010s indie vocal sound – think Cage the Elephant, Two Door Cinema Club, or The Strokes – but without being derivative.
DJ Ryeberry kicked things off on the night – a slightly odd choice which clashed with the band’s more alt-pop sound, but nonetheless got hips loose and the crowd excited for the main event.
Beginning with that very title track from their debut album, a pulsing, effervescent opener, the pair came onto the stage to huge applause, before seamlessly transitioning into the catchy ‘Golden Gate Girl’ – an introduction to the distant lover who lives rent-free in the album’s lyrics. Clearly bank holidays aren’t a thing in New Zealand, with the boys repeatedly thanking the sold-out crowd for turning up on a Sunday, asserting “it’s pretty much a Saturday”. Regardless of what day of the week it was, the crowd were definitely happy to be there.
Next up was ‘Sideways’, which premiered as a Zane Lowe World Record, becoming the set’s real ignition point and cementing the pair as the engineers behind some irresistibly catchy basslines. Manchester often carries a reputation amongst many touring artists – it’s not uncommon for the city to be proclaimed an artist’s favourite place to play. But for Balu Brigada, it held a little more than that. Only two songs in, “two drinks in the space of five minutes… that’s how we do it in Manchester” brought on an impromptu song.
It’s always reassuring to hear songs sung back to artists, yet with ‘Designer’, the singalong began before the first chord had even been struck. The lead single from their 2023 EP Find A Way, it channels the shimmer of a 1970s disco ballad while still feeling distinctly modern.
Obedient would be a very appropriate word to describe the crowd: joyfully singing along to every word, phone torches to hand. Balu Brigada rewarded that devotion with one instant classic after another. Even ‘Moon Man’ from their 2022 EP I Should Be Home received loud cheers – either dedicated fans, or people had clearly done their homework. Introduced by a humorous story about a woman stepping through a supermarket fridge and finding herself on the moon, the song unfolds into a playful intergalactic love story. A cover of ‘DARE’ by Gorillaz really felt like a statement – as if to say, there’s no stopping the way Balu Brigada keep reinventing themselves.
‘Backseat’ marked an escape into the slightly more psychedelic corner of their discography. Backed by possibly the loudest cheer of the night, it unfolded as a glorious six minutes of EDM-tinged rhythms and infectious refrains. In an interview with NME, they described it as a tribute to artists who “do their best to bend genre” – citing Gorillaz, OutKast, Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean.
With Portals making its first iteration in our headphones this time last year, it’s about time for a new song. After asking the crowd for any self-proclaimed insomniacs, the duo revealed ‘BedHead’, a song about trading sleep to pursue your dreams, embracing the spirit of being “allowed to live our dreams and play to audiences like you”. Included in setlists during appearances at festivals in Latin America, it’s a fitting song for hot summer days, blasted from a car stereo with the windows down.
‘So Cold’ rounded things off before a predictable encore, a hit which served their debut US television appearance and earned a spot on the coveted EA Sports FC 25 soundtrack – those guitars were certainly put to work.
After the shortest wait for an encore possibly ever (a 10:30 pm curfew was not to the brothers’ advantage), a mash-up of ‘Find a Way’ from their 2022 compilation Balu and 2017’s ‘Could You Not’ brought the set to a close. A rare sight followed: Pierre made his way into the crowd to finish off the impressive 1.5-hour performance. For a pair whose presence has largely been built online, and their native New Zealand as they’d describe being “a long way from here”, there’s no escaping back into the portal from here.
