Great Western And Phil Yates & The Affiliates At Manhattan Pizza August 15, 2015

Words by Tim Lewis.

I think I had a good time seeing music last Saturday, but it was a bit of a blur. I had worked nine days in a row and had a rare Saturday and Sunday off. I woke up way to early on Saturday, for no reason, and missed my early afternoon plan by sleeping through it. I was a bit more with it in the afternoon and early evening and thought I could make a 10pm show. I waited and waited and around 9 jumped into the shower then headed out.

I arrived at Manhattan Pizza and Pub just about 10pm. I got a beer while Great Western finished setting up, and listened happily to the sound check from the guitar, bass, drums three-piece.. Half way into the blues jam they played, they locked in and started to sound great. They lit into the actual set but as soon as the vocals kicked in there was a huge distorted ring. Raph Worrick started working the sound board and the band played a long instrumental blues jam. After that, they tried the vocals and they worked. The set began in earnest and they played a couple of nice rock songs with some killer Ryan Osswald guitar shredding. They slowed things up with a cool country tune that got a couple of girls dancing, then followed with a funky song that kept the party going. A third mellow song followed and I was starting to get worried, but the chorus had a bit of rock to it, and the whole end section went way over the top. I was elated. As the song ground to a feedback drone ending, Ryan re-tuned and the band slid into The Devil Knows Your Name. It rocked magnificently and ended the set on a high note. It took them some time to get there, but once they did, they were great.

After a short set break, Phil Yates & The Affiliates took the stage and played some wonderfully quirky well written pop songs. They opened with Burn Burn Burn and played a chunk of both Oh So Sour and the new album No Need To Beg. The set was pretty long for them, around 90 minutes, so they added in a few tasty covers. One song by the db’s was pretty cool, but I’ve forgotten the others that they played. All the songs were good, and the full crowd that kept filling and emptying and filling the room seemed appreciative. As they wound towards the conclusion, they played a killer Burn It Down Bernadette, Might As Well Settle, Little French Earthquakes and Ninjas VS Zombies. They all rocked hard and I was blissful. They sent us on our merry drunken way with a song from The Replacements, as only they can do, and that was that. It seemed like it took so much more of an effort than it should for me to get there, and then started a bit rough, but I’m so glad I put in the effort.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.