The Stranglers
Manchester Academy
24th March, 2012

A packed house greeted The Stranglers for the last gig of their UK tour promoting Giants. Drummer Jet Black had succumbed to a chest infection but was ably replaced by his technician, Ian Barnard. A varied set included hits Golden Brown and Always The Sun, covers like Walk On By and the crowd-pleasing All Day And All Of The Night, and a smattering of new tracks, including Lowlands, Time Was Once On My Side, Mercury Rising and the title track. Where the audience went wild was the classics, both the older No More Heroes and Hanging Around, and the newer Relentless and Unbroken. Add a couple of rarely-played tracks from Black And White and two encores, finishing with an energetic Tank, and it’s hard to see why they aren’t a lot more popular.