Reviewed by Adam Finch
Sonic Boom 6 arrived on the Manchester ska-punk scene in 2002 with a loud and exhilarating bang! Since then they’ve gone from strength to strength and become one of the de facto ska-punk bands of today. Think of the Madchester explosion in the 80s and remove it slightly to the 00’s and with ska and punk, this band will be missed when they’re gone. Unfortunately for us, the guitarist, Ben, was leaving full-time Boom responsibilities to be with his wife and relax for a while, so already fans are missing one of their beloved band members. This year’s tour they were joined by Random Hand, Difference Machine and The Skints.
Random Hand were the first band we saw, claiming to be doing the show because of a “community service order” – whether they were telling the truth or not, I don’t know but if they crowd weren’t half ready for SB6 after their set then they never would be! The amount of passion and energy put into every song is happy reminder that whether you like the music or not, the energy put into the performance will pull you in and by the end of the set you’ll be gagging for more. The perfect blend of heavy punk and ska, driving drum beats and voluptuous bass lines allow this band to get your feet moving and heart racing, if you ever get a chance to see this band without the community service order, then take up that chance!
The Skints were next up, on SB6’s imprint label, played an amazing cover of “Dawn Penn – You Don’t Love Me” in a very melodic and slow reggae-ska fashion. The band themselves were good, but after seeing Random Hand possibly upstage Boom, The Skints were lackluster except for the guitarist-come-singer who seemed to enjoy himself.
When SB6 finally came on, proceedings finally kicked off properly. With the band spending some of their time getting the crowd ready for what is to come, I don’t think they really expected this. Ben’s last show was a send off and a half, with old songs, new songs, mashed up songs and any other goodbye present possible in the form of music! The members of the other bands came on stage to dance and sing and keep the crowd entertained.
While Layla and Ben Boom were on stage alone together, a slow meaningful song was played and it looked like Ben shed a tear. After a long thank you to the band and fans for making him feel like family. SB6 played 4 encore songs and vacated the stage to a roofless Academy, the atmosphere in there was intense! If I ever got a send off like that from my friends, the main thing I’d take from that, “I was loved.”
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