Green Lung / Unto Others / Satan’s Satyrs @ The Ritz, Manchester, 21st February 2025

When this joint Heathen Neverland tour was announced last year, it was one of the most highly anticipated shows that I had pencilled into my calendar for 2025. The last time I saw Green Lung was across the road at Gorilla, and upon leaving that show, I said to The Shaman, ‘next time we’ll be seeing them over there’ as I pointed to The Ritz, as we had just witnessed a band who were destined for bigger things.

With the expectation levels hyped even further by a teaser of something special planned for the Manchester and London shows, there was a special buzz around the venue as we walked in. The support slot for the tour was handed over to Satan’s Satyrs, a band that I had missed several times when they’ve played at Manchester in the past, so for me, this gig was a winner all the way.

Their brand of scuzzy rock ‘n’ roll isn’t for everyone, and with Thumper’s Theme blasting out, it was a sight watching them for the first time. They rip through their set, with Full Moon and Pulp Star as drummer for this tour, Erik Larsen, is a bundle of energy with his hair all over the place. Black Souls and Quick Quiet Riot see more sleaziness and great solos as they put on a stellar performance for the people watching.

There’s not much crowd interaction, as they just get on with their job, and have a collection of decent songs that win people over with. ‘Thank you, Manchester, we’ve got a few more left, this one is called Show Me before they rip through the delightful song, with an almost jazz style cymbal break in the mid-section, and the tempo change felt so good. Then it was back to all hell breaking loose with final song Alucard as they encourage the crowd to ‘give it up one more time’ before the silky solo, and that was that. They were definitely worth waiting for.

I’ve managed to witness Unto Others three times in the last few years, and they’ve always been impressive. As they were about to hit the stage in Stoke-on-Trent in March 2022, I got a phone call to say my father had died, so they will always be linked with that, and their goth metal style music and lyrics seemed perfect for that moment in time.

With their latest album, Never, Neverland, they’ve gone up a few levels, so I was excited to see them once again. They stroll on, no intro, and bathed in green lights, they crack on with the beautiful Butterfly. They sound so damn good and with a ‘Manchester, are you out there?’ from singer Gabriel Franco, there are howls throughout the impressive Momma Likes The Door Closed.

‘You doing alright out there Manchester, it’s good to be back’ says Franco before they play one of my favourite songs, the emotional It Doesn’t Really Matter which flows well and you can hear the crowd singing along, or that might just have been me!! Jackie gets people moving around and has a cracking solo from Sebastian Silva. ‘We’ve got a new album out and this is from that’ as Franco introduces Suicide Today which sounded really impressive.

And they continue in the same vein for the rest of their set. With Raigeki and Can You Hear The Rain, Franco shouts midway, ‘Are you still with us Manchester?’ which is met with a great roar of approval back at him. With the lights set to a blinding red, Heroin sees bassist Brandon Hill at his headbanging best, as they roll effortlessly into Time Goes On and their excellent version of The Ramones classic Pet Sematary.

Biggest cheer of their set is reserved for the mighty Give Me To The Night which is both powerful and emotional and sees the crowd in full voice. ‘Thank you Manchester, this is a bit of a bigger room than The Star & Garter, we’ll be back soon’ as they end with Dragon, Why Do They Cry? to finish off their barnstorming set.

It did seem that the crowd were fairly split into which band they were here to see, but in a bigger venue, Green Lung has brought a new stage set up, which sees drummer Matt Wiseman and keyboardist/organist John Wright, high up on a riser, with stairs either side to allow full access for the rest of the band to join them.

They open with the powerful Woodland Rites, which is a break from their usual first song, but nonetheless, it was a magnificent song to begin the show and set the tone right from the off. With singer Tom Templar making full use of the new stage set up, they are on fire tonight and look fully at ease in this bigger venue.

‘Manchester, we are Green Lung from London’ shouts Tom, and he shoots off his description of the group, including ‘forest-dwelling, black metal loving, god bothering, fucking heavy metal band…’, the crowd roared with approval, and the headbanging continues with Mountain Throne. The scary, evil sound for Templar Dawn works well with the softer green stage lights and the big songs progress with Leaders Of The Blind followed by Reapers Scythe which had the ominous words ‘Manchester, you can run but you can’t hide from the Reaper’ from Templar.

‘I wanna see you got nuts Manchester’ he screams, as the crowd are ramping it up, but saw one crowd surfer do a reverse, as he was pushed back by security and ended up near the mixing desk at the back. One of the more impactful elements of their performance is how the organ/keyboards of Wright are incorporated into the music. It’s a joy to watch him up there on his platform as his sonics dominate so much of their sound.

After the stirring rendition of Oceans Of Time, Templar has a moment, ‘I’d like to thank those people who came to see us at Gorilla last time, at Rebellion, and to those 8 people who saw us at Gulliver’s’ before we get the surprise of the evening as he introduces The Oosettes. I didn’t think that Song Of The Stones could get more emotional, but with these ladies on stage, they enhanced the song to epic levels, with the violin a delight to hear prominent in the mix.

‘Who remembers an album called Woodland Rites?’ asks Templar as they play May Queen followed by a breathtaking version of The Forest Church with the wonderful addition of the bagpipes and a huge, crystal-clear bass sound from Joseph Ghast. They emerge next with Hunters In The Sky as Templar says it’s ‘a song all about hunting aristocrats’ which gets a rousing cheer from the masses, just as the next song ‘goes out to all the witches’ with the best song of the evening, Maxine (Witch Queen). The place is rocking now, in full voice and moving around all the venue, and demonstrates how the band have moved seamlessly from smaller venues up to the bigger stage.

With the lights in a soothing yellow, Graveyard Sun is played, as the crowd wave their arms from side to side. The Harrowing sees Tom singing at the front of the barrier as they tear through Old Gods. ‘Manchester, give me a hail, hail, hail, hail Satan’ as we are invited to Let The Devil In and the crowd respond as they embrace Green Lung fully. ‘Manchester, we love this city and we’ll be back’ as they finish with the grandiose One For Sorrow to bring to an end a night that will live long in the memory of those who were present.

Green Lung

Unto Others

Satan’s Satyrs

Scribed by: Matthew Williams
Photos by: Lee Edwards