The Man From Delmonte's unexpected reunion continued apace on Saturday night with a sold-out show at Academy 2 in Manchester. Thirty-five years on from their split they brought memories of misspent youth flooding back with a glorious seventy-five minute set.
When cult heroes The Man From Delmonte announced last year that they were reforming to play shows in Manchester and London, there was immediate excitement and the shows quickly sold out. Having last played in 1990, the social media campaign to get the four piece to reunite paid off and following last night's rousing show at Band On The Wall, The Man From Delmonte moved twenty miles north to play the more intimate Later@ show in Waterfoot's Horse & Bamboo.
It's thirty-five years since The Man From Delmonte departed the world without a single studio album to their name, but a trail of wonderful EPs and thrilling live shows continued to live on in the memories of those fortunate enough to have caught this off-kilter four-piece who flitted around the outskirts of the Madchester explosion despite being an ill fit to the hedonistic flower-power of the time. Whilst most of the big names of that time split and reformed, The Man From Delmonte coming back really only existed in the heads of a few fans who'd set up a Facebook tribute group. Led by Iain Lee, the momentum gathered pace, front man Mike West's kids started to research their Dad's band and slowly the seeds were sown for one of the most unlikely reunions of recent times. Five-hundred people crammed into The Band On The Wall on Wednesday night to relive their teenage years to the sound of gender-fluid, confused songs about being twenty-two and being in love with everyone.
