As the Gigantic Indie All Dayer Vol 2 prepares to assemble its biggest line up to date this May Bank Holiday (23rd May 2015), here we'll be looking at each band heading up the line-up in the fantastic Manchester Academy 1.
Documenting their biggest achievements, greatest hits and just why their performance will be nothing short of Gigantic at this May Bank Holiday here they are...
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Hometown: Liverpool
Years Active: 1978–1993, 1996–present
Greatest Hits: The Killing Moon (1984 - UK No.9); The Cutter (1983 - UK No.8)
Big achievements: Topping the bill of the stellar Main Stage line up, are a band who are the very definition of classic indie. Emerging from the ashes of the short-lived Crucial Three, Ian McCulloch went on to form Echo & The Bunnymen with guitarist Will Sergeant before embarking on a domination of the UK charts. With a string of timeless LPs in the form of their debut Crocodiles (1980 - UK No.17), Heaven Up Here (1981 - UK No.10), and Porcupine (1983 - UK No.2), the band's output paved the way for what would be their career-defining masterpiece: Ocean Rain (UK No.4) - a record of staggering ambition that redefined the face of indie music and would certify itself with a coveted Gold-disc over time.
Gigantic performance?: Last year marked a momentous year for the Bunnymen as they released a 12th album of new material entitled 'Meteorites' and Ocean Rain celebrated 30 magnificent years. As the Liverpudlian band bring proceedings to a close at Gigantic 2015 expect highlights from both records plus much more from their dazzling 37 year long career together.
Echo And The Bunnymen will take to the Academy 1 Stage @ 10.05pm
INSPIRAL CARPETS
Hometown: Oldham, Greater Manchester
Years Active: 1983–1995, 2003–present
Greatest Hits: This is How It Feels(1990 - UK No.14); Dragging Me Down (1992 - UK No.12)
Big achievements: Whilst the Inspirals may have been bubbling under the surface for the best part of six years before they had their first taste of success, the band's penning of some of their finest tunes just as the world's gaze turned to the vibrant new scene that was Madchester couldn't have been better timed. Big hits including the pop smashes such as "This is How it Feels" and "Caravan", received wide recognition both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Their début album Life, reached No. 2 in the UK album chart in 1990 becoming the first of four albums to chart the top 20 before their split in 1995. Putting their differences aside, the band regrouped in 2003 for dates and once again last year to release their well received s/t fourth album.
Gigantic performance?: Performing with their full original line up including iconic singer Stephen Holt, prepare yourself for a set brimming with the acid washed melodies, haywire organs and roaring choruses as tracks like "Caravan", "This Is How It Feels" and "Move" give the Bunnymen a run for their money on the indie anthems. Down at the Academy for a confirmed Greatest Hits set, this will be a guaranteed party starter at Gigantic 2015.
Inspiral Carpets will take to the Academy 1 Stage @ 8.30pm
POP WILL EAT ITSELF
Hometown: Stourbridge
Years Active: 1986–1996, 2005, 2010–present
Greatest Hits: Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies! (1993 - UK No.9); X, Y & Zee (1991 - UK No. 15)
Big achievements: Pop Will Eat Itself announced themselves to the music industry spitting and snarling in 1986 as they released "Poppies say Grrr!", a track that immediately landed them kudos as 'Single of The Week' in NME and on the Radio 1 playlist. But the band's days relying on just the racket of a guitar were numbered as soon as they heard the technologically enhanced sample-heavy records making waves in the States from the likes of Run DMC to S'Express. Reinventing themselves as industrial mavericks, the band's gutsy move earned them a signing to RCA records whereby they launched a career of chart conquering successes including 17 Top UK 100 charting singles and four top 40 UK charting albums. It was when dropped by RCA in 1993, that the band made indie history, as the highest charting unsigned band to appear on Top of The Pops ever, scoring a top 10 record with "Get The Girl! Kill The Baddies!".
Gigantic performance: Especially for the Gigantic Indie All Dayer 2015 The Poppies are returning to the North to grace the Academy 1 stage with an exclusive GREATEST HITS set. Expect the heroic "Get the Girl, Kill the Baddies!", the sample driven spectacle "X, Y and Zee" and the sensational "Can U Dig It?" as they take the early evening by storm.
Pop Will Eat Itself will take to the Academy 1 Stage @ 7.00 pm
GANG OF FOUR
Hometown: Leeds
Years Active: 1983–1995, 2003–present
Greatest Hits: At Home He's A Tourist (1979 - UK No.58); I Love A Man in Uniform (1982 - UK No. 65)
Big achievements: Exploding out of Leeds and on to the airways in 1978 with the break-neck clatter of "Damaged Goods", Gang of Four's self-produced debut single bagged them two Peel sessions and shot straight to the top of the UK Indie Chart. However, whilst the band would score their first charting single signed for a major label (EMI) in "At Home He's A Tourist" (1979 - UK No.58), it was the band's fierce independent spirit that would exile them from true mainstream success. However, walking out of a Top of The Pops performance after refusing to tone down the lyrics of the single led to its subsequent ban, plus a further BBC banning of 1982's "I Love A Man in Uniform" during the Falkland's War couldn't phase a committed fan base hooked to their genre bending post-punk funk - the first three studio albums each staked positions in the UK Album chart 100.
Gigantic performance: With a trove of bile ridden anti-anthems in their arsenal including "Don't Fix What Ain't Broke", "Is it Love?" and "I Love A Man in Uniform" from their tumultuous career spanning four decades, prepare to reacquaint yourself with the classics but also open your ears to tracks from The Gang's critically acclaimed new album 'What Happens Next' (2015).
Gang of Four will take to the Academy 1 Stage @ 5.35 pm
HURRICANE #1
Hometown: Oxford
Years Active: 1996-1999, 2015
Greatest Hits: Step Into My World (1997 - UK No.19); Just Another Illusion (1997 - UK No. 35),
Big achievements: Forged from the Creation Records cauldron that was responsible for casting some of the finest Brit-pop gold to record during the 90s, Hurricane #1 in turn notched up a great number of the label's big charting hits. Formed by Andy Bell after the demise of his former shoe-gaze outfit Ride in 1996, the band wasted no in putting together their eponymously titled debut album, a record home to no less than four top 40 UK charting singles including their career defining "Step Into My World" and "Just Another Illusion". Shortly after the release of their second LP 'Only The Strongest Will Survive", the band split to pursue other projects in 1999, leaving behind a blazing trail from their short-lived but brightly burning career.
Gigantic performance:. It's been 17 years since Manchester Academy audiences last had the opportunity to step into their world, but now with the exciting news of their reformation still fresh, the Brit-Pop band will be making their long awaited return as their only scheduled show in the Northwest for Gigantic 2015.
Hurricane #1 will take to the Academy 1 Stage @ 4.30 pm
THE PRIMITIVES
Hometown: Coventry
Years Active: 1985–1992, 2009–present
Greatest Hits: Crash (Modern US Rock No.3, UK No. 5); Stop Killing Me(UK No.
Big achievements: A band with a singer so charismatic they named her twice, Tracy Tracy from may have been the last member to join The Primitives, but she was certainly the one you'd be least likely to forget. Launching out of the Midlands with chiming indie anthems in abundance, the band's debut LP: 'Lovely' was an instant hit with the public, with international hit "Crash" (Modern US Rock No.3, UK No. 5) landing them a No.6 UK album chart position and forever putting them head and shoulders above much of the 'blonde pop' scene they were associated with. After two further albums, a string of successful singles including "Sick of It" and "Way Behind Me", a US tour with The Sugarcubes and a Japanese tour the band were riding high only calling it quits after their 1992 LP release: 'Galore'.
Gigantic performance: Since reforming in 2009, the chemistry the band originally possessed together remains as potent as it ever was with new singles, EPs and 2014's new album 'Spin-O-Rama'. The band continue to entrance audiences up and down the country and with Tracy Tracy as charismatic as ever this will be an electrifying performance to cut the ribbon for the Gigantic Indie All Dayer Vol.2.
The Primitives will take to the Academy 1 Stage @ 3.30 pm
Doors to the event will open from 1.30PM and the final curtain falls at 11.30PM, with tickets priced at £29.00
Gigantic Indie All-Dayer - Vol. 2
Saturday 23rd May 2015
Manchester Academy, Oxford Road, Manchester
1.30PM - 11.30PM
Tickets £29.00 Advance
Box Office: 0161 832 1111 / www.manchesteracademy.net
REMEMBER TO GET IN EARLY AND COLLECT YOUR WRISTBAND ON ENTRY WHICH WILL BE YOUR PASSOUT UNTIL 7.00pm
THE FULL LINE UP OF THE GIGANTIC INDIE ALL DAYER VOL 2. IS AS FOLLOWS...
MAIN STAGE –
MANCHESTER ACADEMY
Doors open at 1.30pm the same time as the Real Ale and Cider Festival
Echo And The Bunnymen - on stage 10.05pm
Plus Very Special Guests Inspiral Carpets (Greatest Hits set) - on stage 8.30pm
Pop Will Eat Itself (Greatest Hits set) - on stage 7.00pm
Gang Of Four - on stage 5.35pm
Hurricane #1 - on stage 4.30pm
The Primitives – on stage 3.30pm
The Annual Gigantic Raffle – get down early and collect your free entry tickets – 3.00pm
SECOND STAGE –
MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 - Doors open at 4.30pm
The High - on stage 10.00pm
EAT - on stage 8.25pm
Diesel Park West - performing their classic album Shakespeare Alabama - on stage 6.55pm
Milltown Brothers - on stage 5.35pm
ACOUSTIC STAGE –
MANCHESTER CLUB ACADEMY - Doors open at 4.30pm
Echobelly - on stage 10.00pm
The Woodentops - on stage 8.25pm
Mark Morriss - on stage 6.55pm
BOB - on stage 5.35pm
Special Guest DJs for each stage to be announced soon
A big big love...