MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA

There is nothing like good ole concert season. With autumn being here, it is so nice to be out and about. Music festivals can be a bit of a drag when it is nearly 90 degrees out and you are running low on water money. No one likes being in a crowd with extra sweaty people rubbing all over you and being dehydrated! So when it is closer to the end of the year when the weather is lightening up and you have a day full of music and food, it all becomes quite an experience. You get to feel the cool wind blowing, see the sun set with multiple colors laid throughout the sky, and get to hear your favorite band playing music in the background.

Recently in my city, we had a little festival go on, Coral Skies. It was really such a great experience; I got to hear so many great bands live! My favorite over all was Manchester Orchestra though. They are an indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia and they were killer on stage. This band has had my heart since I first heard their album Mean Everything To Nothing in middle school when my brother introduced them to me.

MO is basically a self-driven DIY band. They sell their own merchandise (well, lead singer Andy Hull’s mom does) and they have their own studio, but it’s not all completely them. I find it really inspiring that they have to motivate themselves instead of having someone be there to tell them their deadlines. They all help each other through it and get it all done together and on time. They are signed with a label, but it is not a controlling, eyes watching your every move kind of label. So they really have free reign with the music that they create. They recently came out with a new album Cope, and even more recently they stripped down every song on Cope and put them on an album in an acoustic version, HOPE. HOPE is out for digital download right now and you can preorder a physical copy of the album here, which is out November 18th.

This band has amazing stage presence and way of interaction with the crowd. They have a song for every mood you are in, whether you want to rock out, cry a little, or just have a happy little jam.

So far they have five albums out, I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child - 2006, Mean Everything To Nothing - 2009, Simple Math - 2011, COPE - 2014, and HOPE - 2014. They also have a few other albums that they collaborated with other artists on. COPE is the heaviest, blistering album that they’ve come out with thus far, and it is amazing.

Their set list for Coral Skies was:

1) Pride

2) Shake It Out

3) Pensacola

4) Pale Black Eye

5) Top Notch

6) I Can Barely Breathe

7) The Ocean

8) I've Got Friends

9) Everything To Nothing

10) Cope

11) The Only One

They come on stage with such a strong presence. When you hear that first chord ring and everyone starts pushing towards the front, you know it is about to be an amazing show. The energy of the crowd is so strong and MO feed off of that. They come out so strong and have this almost rustic, rock-type genre that is like no other. As soon as they walked out on stage the crowd roared and swayed in excitement. When that first note came out everyone sang at the top of their lungs with the first lyric. MO has so much chemistry within the band; they all work together and make it such an amazing experience for all. They talk with the audience, make their songs a little different than what’s on the album to make it fun, and most of all connect with everyone in the crowd as well.

I strongly encourage each and every one of you to give this band a listen. Andy Hull has such a unique voice and the music they produce is so different than the pop music you hear on the radios. They are the type of band that is even better to hear live. This was one of the best performances I have ever seen. I have attended four of their concerts and it is in the top two. I have to admit, standing in a crowd full of people who share the same admiration for a band as you do, with voices singing in unison and the cool autumn breeze in the air was hands down the greatest experience of my life.

Written by: China Batan

Photo by: China Batan