LIVE REVIEW: ††† (Crosses) @ New Century Hall, Manchester
After an absolutely sweltering day, a sticky night lay ahead at one of Manchester’s nicest venues, New Century Hall. Tonight’s entertainment came in the form of ††† (CROSSES), the side project of DEFTONES frontman Chino Moreno alongside Shaun Lopez. As soon as doors opened, the crowd was buzzing with excitement. It’s a haven of goths and emos as far as the eye can see, ready to sing the night away. The occasional swathe of very welcome air conditioning intermittently sweeps through much to the relief of everyone packed into the old dance hall, no concert venue.
Opening the show is Australian duo VOWWS. Playing like a heavy version of JOY DIVISION mixed with NINE INCH NAILS, guitarist/vocalist Matt James eerily sounds like Ian Curtis whilst he sings. Keyboardist/vocalist Rizz also shares vocal duties but her singing style has a more rough around the edges feel to it that counteracts the monotone style of James’ singing in a pleasant way. They’re dark and brooding which makes them the perfect opener for a band like ††† (CROSSES). You can feel the bass ripping through your body as they play which is always a good sign. Their stage presence was bolstered by having playful banter with the audience throughout their set and set a fun and well meaning tone for the rest of the evening. They’re a band that will be good to keep an eye on in the future!
Rating: 7/10
Shortly after 9pm, it’s time for ††† (CROSSES) to take to the stage. The room is filled with huge football style chants chanting Chino Moreno’s name, it’s quite clear ††† (CROSSES) have a devoted following brought over from DEFTONES. A night of earth shattering industrial metal and gothic rock lies ahead. The intensity is ramped up as soon as the duo take to the stage with a barrage of noise before launching into the first song of the night, Invisible Hand from their 2023 album, Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.. This sees the audience in full voice from the get go. They mean business as they hurtle through their set at breakneck speed. Tracks like This Is A Trick and Ghost Ride follow suit with similar levels of intensity.
The whole show itself is an all out assault on the senses the strobe lighting is just as intense as the sound, particularly on the track Vivien which has an almost seductive feel to it as it pulsates and grips you, you can’t help but feel sort of mesmerised at this point. Shortly afterwards, Rizz from VOWWS makes a cameo appearance on stage to sing a long with Moreno on the track Pulseplagg which sees a welcome reaction from the audience, she’d obviously left a good impression on them from the support slot. It is after this point however that the duo’s songs do unfortunately start to blend into one and it becomes quite difficult to differentiate between each other due to their repetitive nature. As every song is so slick and performed so tightly, you almost forgive them for it. Cadavre Exquis was met with a big reaction from the crowd which inspired a mass sing along. The Epilogue was a track that was very welcome as it had a slower tempo with it backed by a hip hop /pop beat which brought a very welcome change of pace to the show.
The main highlight of the night was when they closed out the main set with Big Youth, a track that on their latest record features El-P of RUN THE JEWELS fame. He unfortunately wasn’t there but his presence as felt as his voice was played over the speakers and he kept appearing on the screens behind them. The duos influences shone through on this track as once again the NINE INCH NAILS style of music shone through and dared to be a little different. Coming back on stage for an encore, they played a few covers from Interpol and Q Lazzarus before rounding out the night on the funkier sounding songs of Telepathy and Option which help to liven things up a little before the night is out.
Throughout the night, Moreno showcased his ever impressive vocals that fans of DEFTONES have fallen in love with over the years. He prowls the stage in and out of the darkness like a predator bounces along to the huge pulsating beats that help drive each song along. The whole set itself is a well oiled machine that leaves no space for mistakes. Shaun Lopez himself has the lion’s share of the work to do as he is not only on guitar but also manning the show from a huge set up of laptops and drum machines. At times, this does hinder the pair as it’s not much to look at throughout the show. However, they had the help of a background LED screen that provided trippy visuals that helped add to the entertainment of the show.
Overall, the show itself was fun. But you can’t help but feel it was lacking a full band being with them. With it only being the two, it doesn’t give much to look at and lacks the dynamic a full band would have to watch as a member of the audience. The tunes themselves are huge and definitely wouldn’t feel out of place in an arena setting but lack a certain bite with many of them sounding the same. If you’re a fan of Moreno and DEFTONES then they’re definitely one to check out!
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Manchester from Eliza Waite here:
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