Fuzzy Sun Live - Manchester Academy 2 (UK Tour)

Please note: this article is supposed to be published on SJM Concerts' website. If anyone from SJM wants me to remove this article let me know and I will. I am posting it here because I sent it to them and didn't hear back.

Words by Tom F-H. Photos by Rozz Cottrell.

Bringing their warmth to Manchester, Fuzzy Sun’s long-awaited UK tour in celebration of their 2021 album ‘Since The Dog Died’ culminated in their biggest home-crowd headliner yet. Manchester University’s Academy 2 venue filled as first support Fever represented the Hull indie scene, followed shortly after by disco, indie-pop Monks.

Walking onto ‘Right Here, Right Now’ by Fatboy Slim, Fuzzy Sun threw on their guitars and erupted into an upbeat, contrasting track to the formerly mentioned. Their sound was honey; soft and sweet, but their energy remained high, as reverb-drowned lead ricocheted round the room, cast by lead guitarist Raffaele Pani, who swigged a bottle of wine and leapt onto the drum riser. He and frontman Kyle Ross were the most energetic of the five, and their charisma and voracity shone throughout both their up-tempo tracks, and their more chilled out ones. Ross yelled and swore as he commanded the crowd to raise their arms, and he received cries of joy in return.

Photo by Rozz Cottrell.

Towards the end of the set, the building’s fire alarm went off. The band departed the stage as they had already intended to do a ‘walk off’, as session drummer Olly Tandon later told me, but they were worried about how much it ate into their set time Ross came back on stage and half comedically, half genuinely yelled his frustration at it, and demanded to see the manager, to the amusement of the crowd. Seconds later, as if hearing him, the alarm went dead, and the audience exploded in cheers, Ross: a big grin on his face. Fuzzy Sun handled their disruption with the same positivity that had blared out of their speakers all evening.

Photo by Rozz Cottrell.

I spoke to Olly Tandon a few times over the course of the night, and he told me that, after doing a tour of smaller, 200-300 capacity venues across the country, playing the Academy to a home crowd was a joy.

Special thanks to SJM Concerts and Olly Tandon for making a special night even more so. Stay safe and support music <3

Photo by Rozz Cottrell.