Friday, 17 January 2025

Ist Ist - Manchester Night And Day Cafe - 16th January 2025


Ist Ist celebrated the tenth anniversary of their first ever show by returning to the very same stage they performed on that night for a career spanning set to a crowd who snapped up the two hundred and fifty tickets in seconds when they went on sale. Across twenty-five songs they reminded us of just how many great songs they've released across that time.

It's fitting that Ist Ist return to the Night And Day ten years on. The venue has been a breeding ground for many of the most important bands to emerge from our city and has faced battles of its own over that period, fighting for its very existence against johnny come lately residents who think city centre living should be sanitised for their benefit and city council jobsworths with their noise meters taking them to court whilst their leaders stand hypocritically declaring their support for grassroots music venues despite their actions showing otherwise. It's hot in the room, the windows at the back steaming up but Night And Day's newly installed aircon, part of improvements they couldn't make when the town hall's sword stood over the venue's neck, means it's not the sweatbox of old.

There's no support. None's required as the four-piece's equipment fills the stage and the crowd are only here for one thing - to celebrate one of the city's great success against the odds stories of the past decade. Roundly ignored even by local radio with few champions in the media and festival bookers, they've taken the old path to success - reaching number 25 in the full album charts rather than the lesser ones that bands often quote unchallenged with their last album Light A Bigger Fire, filling out the city's medium-sized venues and selling out thousand-plus capacity venues on the continent - all fuelled by their DIY ethic, keen eye for merchandise opportunities, steadfast belief in the power of their live shows by releasing them on a regular basis and good old-fashioned word of mouth. 

Tonight's a retrospective before they get stuck into the writing and recording of album five. They open with Night's Arm, the song with which they opened their first ever gig and the first song they ever wrote. It's grown with the band and it feels perfectly fitting that it opens tonight. None of the other six songs from that first show ever made it past the demo stage so it's right that it kicks things off.

They then take us through a journey across their back catalogue with twenty-five songs of the fifty-two they've released across four albums, two EPs and early singles. Even with such extensive coverage there's fan favourites like Nothing More Nothing Less, Fat Cats Drown In Milk, Preacher's Warning Mary In The Black And White Room and Ghost missing from the setlist such is the strength of the body of work they've created in the past decade. They delve back to their first EPs with the likes of Jennifer's Lips and I'm Not Here that still stand testament to the fact the songwriting was always there before their more ambitious widescreen sound developed to fill the bigger spaces they now frequent. They go even further back for Strangers, a 2017 single that was probably ahead of its time in the band's development, that they haven't played for six years.

It's an onslaught on the senses from start to finish with the only pause for breath Architecture's A New Love Song mid-set and the break before the five-song encore that ends in a wild Slowly We Escape as the band leave nothing behind with their final sonic assault. One of the things that make Ist Ist a compelling live band is the way the older songs have been developed by their perfectionist approach to their art to grow with the new material without losing the appeal that brought people to them. Black, Discipline and You're Mine may now be six years old since they were revealed in the summer of 2019 but they still possess the power and passion of the newer songs around them.  There's also a real revitalised energy in the likes of It Stops Where It Stars and the welcome return of Extreme Greed to the set, a song that lifts and soars and takes you with it, something that Ist Ist have perfected on their most recent album Light A Bigger Fire from which eight of the ten songs appear tonight.

The sound is wonderful, the Night And Day's old system is made to sound like a state of the art one by Ist Ist's permanent soundman Sean - the detail in the songs isn't lost in the mix in the confined space of the venue. That's testament to that perfectionist approach and it allows the full-on nature of the songs to never feel like it's repeating because the meticulous detail in them can be heard.

They're developing the showman side of them as well. Andy's as humble as ever when thanking everyone who's made this possible for them and the support they've had from the fans who've spread the word and enabled their growth. Adam loses himself in the music around him, almost taking out a speaker when he jumps on to the bass bins at the front of the stage. The music though is what does their bidding for them, from Joel's drums that really hold the whole thing together and provide the canvas for the other three. Mat may not say anything, but his switching between synths and guitars brings variety and vision to the songs, whilst Andy's bass is often the lead instrument giving the songs an edge and raw grit as he comes to the fore.

Tonight was a celebration of independent spirit and great music winning through against the odds. There were only a few of us in the room ten years ago, but even in the nascent three-piece version of Ist Ist there was something there that led us to declare "if the ears of the public aren't too sensitive to the noise they create, Ist Ist are going to be a very big deal indeed very soon." For the ever-growing band of devotees, here and abroad, they already are.

Ist Ist played Night's Arm, Jennifer's Lips, Stamp You Out, Lost My Shadow, The Kiss, Black, Discipline, I Can't Wait For You, It Stops Where It Starts, A New Love Song, Strangers, Fool's Paradise, Something Has To Give, I'm Not Here, Something Else, Extreme Greed, Dreams Aren't Enough, What I Know, Hope To Love Again, Silence, Wolves, Repercussions, Emily, You're Mine and Slowly We Escape.

IST IST are on Facebook and Twitter

Light A Bigger Fire and previous records can be ordered via their website

Digital versions of their previous limited edition releases and a number of live field recordings are available to download from their Bandcamp

Ist Ist play Manchester Gorilla (January 17), Stockholm Nalen Club (April 2), Oslo John Dee (3), Esbjerg Tobakken (5), Tilburg 013 (6), Bologna Covo Club (9), Milan Arci Bellezza (10), Bern Gaskessel (12), Stuttgart Im Wizeman Studio (13), Leipzig Taubchental Clubzimmer (14), Berlin Frannz Club (15) and Hannover Bei Chez Heinz (16).

lead picture - Trust A Fox Photography
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