Live Review: Charming Liars - Deaf Institute, Manchester 10/03/2024
On the latest stop of their short UK tour, British-American rock trio Charming Liars take over Manchester’s most intimate hangout at the Deaf Institute. It’s Sunday night, and the streets are quiet; the city needed a bit of fun, a bit of music, a bit of charm.
Opening for the band is Split The Dealer, one of the most exciting up and coming acts in the country with the energy and confidence of a seasoned arena artist. Taking influence from the heavier sounds of the 90s and bringing it together with more contemporary elements, Split The Dealer - a project ran by Sam Brett - was the most fitting opening act to get the crowd moving, grooving, singing, and even managed to pull off the classic gig interactions such as getting everyone to crouch down and jump back up once the beat drops. The crowd in turn, were welcoming him with open arms and huge smiles. With happy and upbeat hits mixed in with harder-hitting tracks such as ones about mental health struggles and confronting the harsh truth of living as a woman in the world, there is a bright future ahead of Split The Dealer. He dealt a good hand and everyone came out a winner.
With everyone warmed up and ready to go, the real party is about to kick off. The lights are shining, the neon pipes are illuminated, and it’s ready for the main event. Welcome to the stage, the fun-loving, free-living, ever-so-charismatic Charming Liars.
With a range of albums, EPs and new releases to choose from, the night is a mystery. Every song is a sweet surprise and welcomed warmly by the audience before them, and the band are feeling every word, every note and chord, every moment. Frontman Kiliyan Maguire is known for being what can be described as, “that” frontman. Someone who uses all of his space to reach into the air, sing into spotlights, and point to his favourite attendees during his most fluid moments of the show.
With high-energy hits such as their stage debut ‘The Haunting’, ‘Wreck It All’, and ‘Like a Drug’ - the latter of which with its repetitive chorus got everyone singing with their entire hearts and souls - the night acted more as an old-school house party than a concert. Letting loose, feeling the music bounce off the walls, it was different. Maybe because it was a more intimate room, or maybe it was the night of high-quality music on its own, but the night was one to remember and never will be forgotten. Even when playing newer tracks such as ‘Where I End & You Begin’, the reception was pointedly positive and the good vibrations were dancing through the airwaves.
Ending the night on a three-song encore, one which followed straight on from the main set as the band say logistically, they could not pull the usual ‘peekaboo’ within the venue, the crowd still wanted more and more and much more. The most successful gigs are always described as feeling too short, the time was too fleeting, it slipped through the fingers like sand in minutes rather than over an hour. To describe this night as one that was fleeting due to its overall great feeling and fun vibes would be all too accurate and yet not accurate enough.
Charming Liars are a party band; one that many in the UK would have been introduced to from their support slots for acts such as Palaye Royale. They know how to kick the night off in style and they have proven on their own, headlining their own show, they can keep that fire burning and make the sparks fly to the sky.
If there is ever a Charming Liars show coming to town, the biggest party in the world is coming, and that’s no lie.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Kate Derbyshire
