Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Night Beats
Manchester Academy
12th Dec 2025
Twenty years on from Howl, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club proved they can still command a room through restraint as much as volume, building a slow-burning set that ultimately exploded into riotous blues rock.
The opening act for the evening is the Seattle three-piece Night Beats. They treat the crowd to a flurry of psychedelic jams, with plenty of space in each song reserved for the spluttering fuzz of frontman Danny “Lee Blackwell” Rajan Billingsley’s guitar to revel in extended solos. The retro-tinged, reverb-soaked songs, paired with the high register of Billingsley’s vocals, feel reminiscent of a deep cut from The Arcs, The Black Keys’ lesser-known side project.
When the time comes for BRMC to take the stage, there is no bombastic opener from a band long associated with swaggering blues-rock anthems. Instead, the lights dim to near-darkness and the gramophone crackle of Pete Seeger’s 1967 protest song Which Side Are You On? fills the room. A lone hooded silhouette emerges as Peter Hayes steps forward, softly strumming an acoustic guitar to open with the 2005 track Devil’s Waitin’
This tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of Howl, an album that marked a significant departure from the white-knuckle, distortion-heavy rush of the band’s first two records. In its place came a slower, more reflective sound, tinged with country, folk, and gospel. The first half of the band’s sprawling two-hour set leans heavily into this atmosphere, maintaining a sense of restraint and quiet intensity.
There is little need for talk between songs, though bassist Robert Levon Been pauses to pay tribute to the recently passed Mancunian icon, Mani of The Stone Roses. Reaching for an acoustic guitar, he strikes up the unmistakable chords of “I Am the Resurrection,” prompting a huge singalong from the sold-out crowd.
Once the tribute to Howl is fully explored, the band finally cranks the amps and returns to what they do best: barnstorming, adrenaline-fuelled, leather-jacket rock & roll. Classic tracks such as Beat the Devil’s Tattoo and Conscience Killer steadily dial up the intensity, pushing the room toward breaking point, reaching a fever pitch during the band’s most iconic song, Spread Your Love. The driving bass line turns the crowd into an undulating mass of energy so irresistible that Been cannot help but dive straight into it.
Despite mentions of illness and tour fatigue, the band closes the set with remarkable energy. Obscured by darkness, their age dissolves, and for the length of their best song they feel less like veterans reaching back, and more like a reminder that truly great songs can still summon the raw, youthful force that first brought them to life.
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Words and photos by Jack Flynn. You can find more from him at his authors archive, and as @jackflynnphoto on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as his photography website.
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