I’ve been following Proletariat‘s progress ever since I caught them at the tail end of 2016 at their third ever gig when they were supporting Trampolene, the quartet have steadily gone from strength to strength with numerous live shows and a series of releases, including their latest single, Nervous Energy, that was released on the day of today’s show, and now Proletariat are headlining their biggest hometown show to date at the legendary Manchester venue, The Deaf Institute. The Nix are opening tonight’s show, the south Manchester guitar heavy quintet open with an instrumental that is reminiscent of The Chameleons, and they continue with a bass driven set of indie that carries all the hallmarks of classic indie rock, jangly guitars and heavy bass lines are driven by an incessant beat. Their set steadily ebbs and flows, but all the while maintaining their indie cool, there are also undercurrents of post punk and funk, along with a distinctly eighties vibe, that separates them from the indie rock pack.

But let’s not make any bones about why everyone is here for tonight’s completely sold out show, it’s to catch
The Proletariat at the biggest hometown headlining show to date. The
Proletariat are a band in the ascendency, perpetual gigging and series of impressive singles and the
Always The Same EP has seen them become the brightest new hope to rise from Manchester’s punk scene, and this is reflected in the charged atmosphere that has built up ahead of tonight’s headline show. The
Proletariat take to the stage to a warm welcome from the sold out crowd and unexpectedly lead into the show with their interpretation of
Bang Bang, a version that is made all the more sinister by
James Cummins rasping Mancunian vocals before they launch into
Mr. Brown that sets the tone for what is a landmark show for the
Proletariat. They have transformed themselves over the last eighteen months from a raw punk band to something that is so much more, their sound carries elements of rock, indie and garage, but the punk attitude and energy is present throughout their set.

Tonight may their biggest headline show to date but you get the impression that this is only the beginning of the next chapter for a band who have made themselves noticed, and have brought something unique to Manchester’s music scene by embracing the city’s musical heritage and twisting it to their own design. Elements of the past are present in their sound, including the chainsaw melodies of
Buzzcocks and the primitive throb of
The Fall in their prime, but
Proletariat are by no means recreating the past and they are a band whose time seems to have come. New material is thrown into the set, including closing their set with new single,
Nervous Energy, indicating that the
Proletariat are still looking forward, they continues to twist and blend different genres into their impressive set and as a result the
Proletariat sound better than ever. On the evidence of tonight’s blistering set they could well be your new favourite band, they blasted through their entire back catalogue in a faultless hour long set that indicates the future is looking bright for these four men in black.

They are not allowed to leave the stage by tonight’s enthusiastic crowd and they oblige by delivering a cover of
The Stooges classic
I Wanna Be Your Dog as there is nothing else left to
play, it is delivered in a manner that would make
Iggy Pop a happy man as the menace and deviance of the original is present, afterwards they make their way from the stage through the packed crowd that have witnessed an impressive show that represents a landmark in their brief existence. As I noted at my first live review of them at
Gullivers in 2016 “This is only their third live outing but already their performance indicates that they are band to watched carefully, the crowd’s reaction to their set indicates that I am not alone in thinking this” and I stand by those words, as
Proletariat now look set to take their next step forward
The Proletariat‘s
Facebook page can be found
here
You can stream
The Proletariat via
Spotify here
Nervous Energy can be streamed and downloaded via
Bandcamp here
The Nix‘s
Facebook page can be found
here
Live photography by Steven Alexis,
You can click on any of Steven’s photos to view a slide show of the images