parade @ Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 30 Sep

The Skinny last caught parade at 2016’s Sounds From the Other City, where they captivated a late night crowd at The Old Pint Pot. Since then, Nic Townley has been busy contributing to SOFIAHH (a band built largely from the core of Manchester collective Hartheim) and furthering the personal vision afforded by his ‘solo’ guise. At SFtOC, he played stripped back, accompanied on keys by Becky Power. Tonight he plays his first headline show, backed this time by a sharp five-piece backing band and the leap is staggering. 

Townley’s poetic ambition (in turn influenced by Arthur Rimbaud’s Les Illuminations: 'I alone hold the key to this savage parade') and the scale of his musicality is anchored by his song craft. In a trim seven-song-set – omitting, sadly, the intimate ballad Candide – the band supplies detail and support, and they serve the innate drama of parade's music well. The opening Martyrs sets the tone: a thumping slab of modernist pop/rock, it grasps the tenets of the current mode, setting bass and drums distinctly upfront and blurring where rhythm starts and melody begins. Laughing takes this one step further, introducing an arms-aloft thrust that is one part Neon Bible and two parts The Unforgettable Fire. 

Of course, in 2017 every savvy act with even vaguely artful influences can’t quite ignore the insidious influence of Arcade Fire but it’s a craftsman indeed who borrows from a borrower and steals away undetected. Townley’s aesthetic displays influences catholic enough to cover his tracks. So while the scope and heft of his songs – sold by a compelling onstage persona – strain at the leash of a chilly basement in wintry Manchester, their arena ambitions are grounded by intimacy and the anguish and ecstasy of Townley’s lyrics.

During a closing, epic Suffering ('And if you won't believe you're loved, suffering’s not for you'), he puts those crossover smarts to good use. Abandoning his guitar, he steps offstage, from where he watches his band play out the song’s soaring coda, applauding both them and the audience. It’s a gesture that works beautifully tonight, sealing a performance built on dialogue and connection. Add to the top of the ‘ones to watch’ pile.