Live Review: The Parish Church Fire / Four Candles / Emily Oldfield – The Eagle Inn, Salford, UK, 7th June 2019

It’s June in Manchester in a weekend that sees open air concerts from Noel Gallagher which precedes the two day open air Parklife Festival, which of course means that biblical rain has descended upon the city, but thankfully we’re safely indoors tonight for the latest chapter in Sam Smith’s musical legacy. It’s been six long years since the breakup of Sam Smith & Company, the eponymous front man proves you can’t keep a good man down as he returns with his new band, The Parish Church Fire. who tonight are playing their second ever show at Salford’s The Eagle Inn which follows on from their live debut at this years Strummercamp Festival and the release of their debut single, Hunger. Tonight also sees support from fellow German Shepherd Records alumni Four Candles with Lancashire performance poet Emily Oldfield and a DJ set from the host of Salford City Radio’s The Punk Show, Stephen Doyle.

The ongoing project to take pictures of Manchester’s punk community clutching punk albums is still going strong, it’s quite entertaining watching unsuspecting people have albums thrust upon them and their picture for the ongoing art project. Whilst this happening the discordant sounds of the Parish Church Fire‘s soundcheck are echoing across The Eagle Inn, post soundcheck Sam Smith is lurking in the pub that is adjoined the venue prior to his show and is happy to mingle with those who have arrived early for tonight’s show. I have to admit that after a long and busy week I was struggling ahead of tonight’s show but sometimes you just need to power through as sleep is overrated and I doubt that I’m ever going to look back at my life and wish I’d stayed in a bit more.

Emily Oldfield opens tonight with a few numbers of dystopian northern poetry. She delivers a set of spoken word that encompasses everything about the resistance to the far right rhetoric that is dominating the mainstream media, and it is a set that is in equal parts beautiful, haunting, disturbing and relevant. Emily Oldfield embraces the positive elements of the Mancunian spirt and the the fact you could hear a pin drop during her set speaks volumes about the impact of her early evening appearance. There is no heckling, just a reverential silence, no spoken word act I’ve encountered has justified a greater reaction as she silenced a room of Mancunians of all ages on a Friday night, something that is hard to achieve at the best of times. 

In complete contrast you get Four Candles, a band I’ve heard enthusiastically referred to by regulars of the Manchester live scene, this is my first experience of them live and their reputation as a live act has been underplayed, firerce aggressive post punk that their studio recordings couldn’t;t hope to capture. Four Candles reflect the working class and satirical nature of the long forgotten comedy sketch their name is taken from, their performance is mesmerising, this is aggressive yet good natured post punk at it’s best, despite their anachronistic name this is a band you need to experience live, almost forty years after post punk first reared it’s ugly head Four Candles are keeping the spirit alive.

Sam Smith has endured his personal and professional trials and tribulations over the years prior to the formation of the Parish Church Fire, a nonsensical countdown precedes their appearance before they launch into their opening number which builds in intensity, initially seated behind his keyboard Sam Smith emerges to front his latest outfit with a brooding and anthemic number. The Parish Church Fire deliver a set that sits somewhere between alt rock, indie, heartland rock and early punk, throughout their brief set Sam Smith is candid with his thoughts about events in his life over the last few years that preceded the formation of The Parish Church Fire.

To me The Parish Church Fire is an outfit that simultaneously allows Sam Smith to exorcise some of his demons and act as an outlet for the inner demons that remain. As this is only their second live outlet a few revved up covers are slipped into the set, tonight is only a footnote in Sam Smith’s musical journey, where it takes him next is only known to him and his band. Tonight is only the sophomore outing for The Parish Church Fire so tonight’s headline set is one that is very brief but it does provide a taste of where this band are headed. Given Smith’s history it’s likely that The Parish Church Fire will be on an uncertain and unpredictable road but I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes them.

Live photography is by Dean Unsworth, his Instagram account is located here and you can click on any of Dean’s photos to view a slide show of the images

The Parish Church Fire can be found own Facebook, SoundCloud, Twitter and YouTube

The Four Candles website can be found here

Emily Oldfield can be found on Facebook and Twitter