Simply amazing

Photo: Mike McArdle

Phil McArdle from Ok Broken.

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PUT purely and simply: amazing!

That one word pretty much sums up Saturday’s mega Revolution Live ‘Love Spreads’ night at Whittle’s on King Street, when local musicians and music lovers put the Oldham scene firmly back on the map.

With the venue packed, this potentially ground-breaking showcase of some of the best talent in the area was an unqualified success.

I arrived as Shadow Palace, morphed together from members of the Velocetas and the Frakes, wound themselves up for an epic opening set. They were awesome.

With front-man Harry Lavin giving it everything and Ben Warwick leading the way on the strings, their half-hour mix of crisp, driving original material and covers warmed the punters up magnificently.

Oldham legend Clint Boon got stuck into the night with a rousing DJ set before Ok Broken then took the stage for three quarters of an hour and promptly smashed it.

Original favourites Waiting in Line and Sirens featured from Gaz, Adam, Phil and Dave in what was a supremely tight bunch of tunes that had the audience bouncing.

Ace DJ and Revolution Radio Sunday Club host Dave Sweetmore then took to the decks before handing over at 11pm to the brilliant 5ft Fez.

Matt Cummings, Ross Fearns and Joe Leach fired in an incredible set – an hour of hard-hitting offerings which included new track Name and Address, original favourites Watch me Fall and Far Away, as well cover classics from The Jam which almost blew the electrics.

In Shadow Palace, Ok Broken and 5ft Fez, Oldham is lucky to have three of the best and exciting young original bands in the region – to see them all on one bill was brilliant.

Already there’s talk of similar local band showcase nights being planned by various Oldham-based promoters.

Hopefully the Love Spreads epic is the start of another special period for this town’s upcoming talent.