Live Review: Alien Ant Farm - O2 Ritz, Manchester 21/11/2024
The 2020s have been a decade of revival so far; reunions, comebacks and re-releases in abundance. One band that has found themselves bringing back the 2000s attitude is American nu-metal act Alien Ant Farm. Coming back to the UK for their first tour in five years accompanied by two fantastic support acts, the doors of the O2 Ritz opened and the build-up to that one hit cover song began. It’ll be the night to remember and an encore the fans will never forget.
Opening the night is Manchester rockers The Fear. Hitting the stage to “fuck shit up”, it was the band’s first hometown show in many years so if there was ever a time to fulfil such a promise, it would be this very night in this very city. Playing a range of hits, the crowd granted them a warm welcome - a choice group shouting full appreciation and support for frontman Micky Satiar - and brought all of the energy for the set’s closer, the band’s recent single ‘White Noise’. Being accompanied with recorded vocals of co-collaborator Kellin Quinn, it seems that association is a very strong concept. If having the Sleeping With Sirens vocalist sign off on this rising four-piece doesn’t make a young punk excited, there is no way to bring the excitement.
The party had well and truly started, and it was only going to get better when scene legends InMe took to the stage. Joining the band last-minute after altercations between the headline act and their last booked support, there was no telling that this was a squeeze in the schedule. InMe are pure professionals in British alternative music; almost 30 years in the industry and still kicking butt as hard as they did during their youth.
Vocalist Dave McPherson commanded his team of musicians in such a way that resonated with the youngest and oldest fans in attendance that night. Making light jokes and interacting with the crowd between songs, it shows that it doesn’t cost anything to keep that bond between band and fan, especially after as long of a career as he’s had. With how the music made the audience move and sing and cheer, the sudden change to InMe on the line-up was a genius one and not a single soul could say the addition was out of place.
Now that everyone is warmed up, ready, and more eager than for any other act, it was time to bring on the men of the evening. Alien Ant Farm took to the stage to bring out a range of their catalogue. Choosing a setlist of tracks taken from their discography; from their iconic debut Greatest Hits to their 2024 release Mantras. Tracks such as ‘Movies’, ‘These Days’, ‘Stranded’ and ‘Storm’s Over’ proved to be an audible anthology of their entire career as a band, and demonstrated just how they have never bowed down or compromised their integrity as a rock act. Musicians grow older by age, but they never lose that young-and-dumb personality that made them icons in the first place years or decades before.
It all culminated in that final moment for the gig. That last hurrah of the night. Every rock fan knows of the world-famous cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’, and many in attendance that night witnessed the rise of Alien Ant Farm from this cover when it first came out. It was a pinnacle moment in the scene, and the effect of this simple cover track is still felt to this day, as seen in the Manchester venue this night. The whole room erupted as soon as the first note was struck on the guitar, and vocalist Dryden Mitchell screamed/sang the lyrics with hundreds before him screaming them back perfectly.
As time goes by and trends change in rock and alternative music, it’s easy to overlook what happened in the past and the cultural effects these events had. Alien Ant Farm’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ cover had a fantastic effect on music, both in the United States and beyond, and the best thing is the past never stays in the past. Bringing this cover to the stage every time they play live shows that they also acknowledge the effect it had on the industry and on themselves, and as long as they are keeping it alive, more people will be taught about one of the greatest covers in the rock scene and get to hear this epic piece of art firsthand. Long live Alien Ant Farm.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Katie Probert
