REVIEW: Jordan Allen at The Ruby Lounge, Manchester

BOLTON four-piece Jordan Allen are a band on the rise. Following on from their appearance at Manchester’s Dot-to-Dot festival, Quays News entertainment reporter Samantha Rooke went to catch them at The Ruby Lounge…

Jordan Allen is formed up of its namesake Jordan Allen, Danny Quin, Nathan Howard and Kieran Loughran. The night started quite quiet as people were just arriving.

However, the atmosphere was calming as French singer-songwriter Laura Esther performed her soothing records as the evening’s warm-up.

Esther’s soulful voice was also accompanied by a violinist, which made the music even more unique.

She created a lovely vibe for the start of the night however, since the singer’s music is so different to that of the headliners, not as many people seemed to gather round the stage and engage.

On the contrary, the second support act, Saytr Play, a four-piece band with distinct similarities to Jordan Allen were given a much warmer welcome.

The energy exerted on stage spilled onto the audience who suddenly became very lively.

The band engaged with their audience, with frontman Fred Farrell jumping into the crowd and getting them to form a circle around him, getting people to sing into the microphone with him.

After a lively atmosphere had been created it was time for headliners Jordan Allen to appear on stage.

The venue was perfect for the energetic band as their audience soon filled the room, joining in with all their hit songs.

The band played a packed set starting with ‘The boy that time forgot’ which got the audience excited for their entertaining night that was to follow.

A fun element to the evening was the band throwing inflatable flamingos into the crowd, which lead to people getting attached to the pink inflatables and ended up dancing with them all night.

They performed their new song ‘Rosie’ and eventhough it was a new song people still danced around with the band and soon began singing their lyrics back to them.

So @JordanAllenUK and his lot smashed Ruby Lounge last night. One of the best sets from an ‘up and coming’ artist I’ve seen in a long time x

— Sam Carson (@SamCarson__) August 21, 2016

A clear bond was evident throughout the band with them all supporting each other throughout the set, as well as this they were able to naturally connect with the audience making everyone feel welcome.

Halfway through the set it was announced that it was one of the band members dad’s birthday so they had everyone sing ‘Happy Birthday‘ to him, which only strengthened the rapport with the audience – plus it was a humorous interruption to their tracks.

By this point in the show it was more like watching your friends perform rather than a just a regular band. This friendly atmosphere is what stood out most at this gig, and since it was so natural to them it would not be surprising were they to take their talents to an even bigger venue.

The talented band are arguably even better live – compared to the recorded record – finished their set with their most well known songs: ‘White Lines‘, ‘Helter Skelter‘ and ‘Set in Stone‘.

@JordanAllenUK smashed it tonight lads!! Hopefully see you at @OfficialRandL again next week ⭐⭐⭐ pic.twitter.com/YxSkZDCYyk

— Abi (@acwhte) August 21, 2016