Cast your mind back to Friday 26th of July. It was hot wasn’t it? Like really hot, maybe too hot.
Then imagine my horror knowing I was going to a gig that evening… 800-ish sweaty people packed shoulder to shoulder in Manchester Academy 2 weeping in despair as their skinny jeans stick to the back of their knees and their faces melt in the humidity.
Luckily this all turned out to be irrelevant, because Living Colour walked onstage that very night and were so cool (pun intended) that we all completely forgot we were standing in a soundproof oven.
Performing their debut album “Vivid” in full Living Colour gave us a 90 minutes masterclass in funk rock and shred. Don’t let their age fool you, this was one of the tightest bands I’ve even seen onstage (and I’ve seen Metallica and Parkway Drive live several times – and Girls Aloud…) and the four piece loved every second of it.
Front man Corey Glover commanded the audience in a chequered black and white three piece, at one point ditching the mic for an acapella session ending with “I don’t need no mic, you wanna hear me then HEAR ME!”. Guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Doug Wimbish, and drummer Will Calhoun and clearly masters of their instruments, particular shout-out goes to Doug for literally rattling the building with his slap bass lines.
Popular hits such as Cult of Personality, What’s Your Favourite Colour, and set closer Elvis is Dead are just as funkalicious now (that’s a word – sue me) as they were 30 years ago and to see a band loving it together for so long is testament hands down to the power of comradeship.
Living Colour are clearly a huge influence to bands like Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chilli Peppers and they proved that the old timers can clearly hold their own with anyone when it comes to laying down some big grooves and even bigger tunes. But my goodness it was hot in that room. Phew.
