A LIVE REVIEW FROM MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2

Indie rock quartet, Corella play biggest home town gig at Manchester Academy 2.

On Friday 20th October, local Manchester legends, Corella, took to the stage of Manchester Academy 2 to perform the indie rock quartet’s biggest headline home gig since they started out in 2017.

With a blazing 17 song set filled with fan favourites, the band opened with their newest single ‘Don’t Stop Me’, an anthem about living in the moment. From the very first song the floor was bouncing and the crowd were singing along to every word.

For the four-piece band, formed of Joel(vocals/guitar), Ben (vocals/bass), Jack (guitar) and James (drums), it was obvious that headlining Manchester Academy 2 was a real pinch me moment. The Manchester-hailing band reminisced on getting the bus past the venue on their way to and from uni, dreaming of playing there someday and it felt special to be a part of this career highlight for them.

The set was filled with upbeat tracks including ‘Puppets’, ‘Let On’ and ‘Monday’ as well as playing some of the upcoming tracks that will be featured on their debut album (yet to be announced) with ‘Lady Messiah’ being a personal favourite. Giving the crowd what they want, Corella also played fan favourite ‘Blush’ which has never been played live before and it went down a treat, with the crowd jumping along to the chorus and the band were smiling from ear to ear throughout the full performance.

Bouncing along to the explosive set, the crowd were electric and the boys couldn’t get enough, with frontman Joel even jumping into the crowd and joining them for hit ‘waterfall’. If joining a mosh pit wasn’t quite enough, the night finished with Joel also crowd surfing following their finale song ‘Barcelona Girl’. 

It’s always great to see bands play their home show gigs and be able to reflect on how far they have come in their career and it’s clear that these four are just getting started. With an album in the works and hopefully more gigs next year, there is a lot of exciting things to look forward to when it comes to Corella.

Live review by Ellie Boyle

Photo credits @corellamusic