LIVE REVIEW: Alestorm’s Piratefest 2018 @ The Ritz Manchester
Easily one of the most marmite genres in all of alternative music, pirate metal has been going strong ever since the name was first attributed to German outfit RUNNING WILD in the late 1980’s. Nowadays, there’s plenty of swashbuckling heavy bands about, to the point where Scottish buccaneers ALESTORM have managed to assemble a three-band bill entirely comprised of pirate-metal bands they unsurprisingly call Piratefest, and are touring it across the UK and Europe. We caught up with the trek in Manchester at the city’s The Ritz to see how its audience would cope with four solid hours of pirate-based heaviness.
THE DREAD CREW OF ODDWOOD get the evening’s nautical-themed proceedings going tonight, with a unique twist on the expected pirate metal. Eschewing almost all conventional rock instruments entirely in favour of more period-appropriate accordions, tin whistles, mandolins and even an upright bass, the US sextet put on a fun set of what they dub ‘heavy mahogany’, rather than heavy metal, and start the evening off decently enough with some fun pirate anthems. In truth, the total lack of anything remotely metal in their lineup means there’s far more resemblance to both folk music and the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks of Hans Zimmer than the rest of tonight’s bill, but it’s that authenticity that makes THE DREAD CREW OF ODDWOOD a fun act to witness in motion. Tracks like Raise Your Pints and When I Sail’d prove a rousing way to open the night, and the band’s quirky nature and charismatic inter-song banter seem to win over most of the gradually-filling room rather quickly as they plough through their set.
Rating: 6/10
Next on are RUMAHOY, who bring the first glimpse of more traditional metal elements to the stage in that they actually have electric guitars. An anonymous four-piece clad entirely in both pirate costumes and full-face black balaclavas, and with stage names like Bootsman Walktheplank (guitar), Cabinboy Treasurequest (bass) and Swashbuckling Pete (drums), the band quickly set about trying to engage the audience with opener AHOY!. Unfortunately, frontman Captain Yarrface‘s vocals consist of little more than shouting about the exact kind of themes you’d imagine from this type of band, and quickly begin to come across as a bad imitation of tonight’s headliners. Having only released their debut album The Triumph of Piracy a week or so prior to this evening’s show also doesn’t help matters, as unfamiliarity with the increasingly generic-sounding material means the audience’s attention quickly seems to wander and the RUMAHOY‘s relatively-samey sounding riffs all gradually begin to blur into one continuous mess of distortion and shouting that ends up being more annoying than engaging. Easily the low point of their set though, comes around the mid-point, with the horrendously-titled ballad Netflix and Yarr seeming to go on for days and days at such a glacial pace it more or less kills the remainder of any lingering interest the band may have been able to garner.
Rating: 3/10
Over the years, ALESTORM have grown from somewhat of an intriguing novelty, to a genuinely loved act within certain sections of the metal community. Unfortunately, what the band prove across the following two hours or so, is that whilst their particularly wacky brand of pirate-metal might come across well on-record, the translation to a live setting is far less interesting. Opening with Keelhauled sees the by-now mostly inebriated crowd go wild with excitement, as frontman Chris Bowes and his cohorts begin their surprisingly lengthy set, but that initial blast of noise quickly becomes marred by a muddy sound mix that only seems to become more distorted as time goes on. With a set that’s roughly one-third comprised of material from last year’s No Grave But The Sea and two-thirds classic fan favourites, on paper you’d expect the band to at least be able to power through such issues and salvage the show to a certain degree, but that never really seems to happen and whilst the likes of That Famous Ol’ Spiced and The Sunk’n Norwegian do seem to elicit a relatively strong response from the more dedicated fans in the audience, there’s still an overriding feeling that the band are lacking in something tonight.
At the very core of it, ALESTORM are essentially a comedy band, so it’s also disappointing just how flat much of that inherent humour seems to fall within the walls of The Ritz on this particular occasion, with things eventually devolving to increasingly-wacky and contrived jokes and on-stage beer chugging duels with guest performers. It all eventually culminates in what’s easily the most ridiculous thing ALESTORM have committed to tape thus far in their career – the song Fucked With An Anchor. Seeing an entire venue chant along with the refrain “Fuck you, you’re a fucking wanker/We’re gonna punch you right in the balls/Fuck you with a fucking anchor/You’re all cunts so fuck you all!” is not only one of the most ludicrous sights it’s possible to see, it also perfectly sums up the level at which ALESTORM are operating by this point in their careers – with huge emphasis on comedy rather than the songs that first made them a recognisable name. All in all, based on their performance tonight, it’s a little bewildering to work out exactly how ALESTORM have managed to become as popular as they are (to the point where they’re currently near to top billing at Bloodstock 2018 at the time of writing). Bowes and co’s brand of pirate metal silliness might have been a new and interesting concept when they first got going some fourteen years ago, but the joke seems to have finally run its course now, and tonight can only really be described as a mediocre showing and a disappointment.
Rating: 4/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Manchester from Em Coulter Photography here:
