Music Therapy column: Live music Blossoms again

At long last... we can look forward to bands (including a number of Music Therapy regulars) being able to do what they do best - perform live!

Is it alright to get excited about live music again? A couple of weeks ago Neil’s mates Blossoms played a live gig in Liverpool’s Sefton Park.

All the responses weren’t just that it was good to hear and see musicians playing in front of them, but that it was emotional. 

The five lads from Stockport must have been made up to have played such a prominent landmark event.

It was the first non-socially distanced gig for over a year and saw the audience warmed up by Andy Burnham’s favourite band Lathums.

Stockport’s beloved Blossoms (pictured) are no strangers to great moments and musical success.

Not only have they had two number one albums under their belt, they’re never happier when playing live to packed audiences around the world. 

Their last hometown show saw 20,000 fans at Edgeley Park, Stockport. Blossoms are a band that have a particular connection to their audience. 

I remember seven years ago when they first started out my then 15-year-old son wanting to go and see them at the O2 Academy in Liverpool.

As his little brother and I anxiously waited in the street for him as the kids filed out, I sensed the same buzz that I had having seen The Jam in Manchester, Carlisle or Leeds when I was his age.

They also have that particular following and affection because they’re really proud of where they’re from. They’re not a Manchester band, but a Stockport band. But it’s more than that, they’re so very relatable to their audience. 

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen random members of Blossoms in the street, on the bus, in the pub. Once, while walking through Piccadilly station they were playing a pop up gig on the concourse for the BBC. And they absolutely rocked it.

And it’s fair to say they had a pretty good lockdown, knocking out some imaginative cover versions that were eventually released on a special double album, In Isolation / Live From the Plaza. It’s a great record, capturing them making the best of a bad job, and also reminding their fans of the magic of a very special concert at the restored Plaza theatre in Stockport.

The song that seemed to go down particularly well in Sefton Park was their version of The Beatles’ Paperback Writer, which they’d first tried out a year ago from their isolation. What a joy.

Anyway, you can tell I love this band, but they’re not my band, they’re very much my sons’ band.

Me even admitting to loving the hooks on Charlemagne, or the simple melody of There’s a Reason Why, would be enough to render them instantly uncool. This is a very long winded way of saying I’m very much looking forward to seeing a couple of Music Therapy regulars in the next few months as the world (hopefully) returns to normal. 

New Order at Heaton Park, Richard Hawley at the Piece Hall in Halifax and a big stand out from last week’s show, LYR at Gulliver’s in Manchester, a couple of old fellahs and a poet. I can’t wait.

You can listen to Michael Taylor and Neil Summers on Music Therapy on Tameside Radio 103.6FM on Sunday evenings from 9pm to 11pm. Click here to subscribe and catch up on previous shows.

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