When touring the country, artists will often find themselves having an ardent connection with a certain city over others, sometimes a hometown show, other times a place where the energy of the crowd is unparalleled. On their tour promoting latest album Gulp!, Sports Team clearly feel this bond with Manchester, having posted on their Instagram the night before “Honestly love going Manchester so much I get butterflies and I feel a little sick”. Renowned for their live show in addition to this means only one thing, that this will be a night to remember at Manchester Academy.

The atmosphere is well and truly set, after a brief turnover it is time for Sports Team and the crowd are clearly ready. The lights drop to a thunderous roar, with the band walking out to Cat Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman. They open with Here It Comes Again, singer Alex Rice making the stage his own by parading the front line with vigour before planting himself in the centre with the microphone stand. He moves with almost a mod energy to his jolting dynamism, manoeuvring at angles that some gymnasts would be proud of. Rice’s passion is matched all the way by the crowd though, rarely a word goes unsung by either party, as though sparring toe-to-toe waiting for the other to falter. “I think this could be a really big night” lauds Rice, as they rattle through tracks old and new, with rarely a lull in intensity to catch breath between the punk inspired beats of drummer Alex Greenwood and indie rock sensibilities of guitarists Rob Knaggs and Henry Young and bassist Oli Dewdney.

“I think it means something about you to like this band, we’re not normal” announces Rice regarding the uncompromising connection in the room between everyone, and that is an understatement. He spends at least half of the set on the barrier to the audience in a homogenous appreciation for the role they both play in this dance between artist and crowd, neither would be here without the other which is clearly not lost on him. During Cool It Kid the crowd are encouraged to get on one another’s shoulders, and they do not disappoint with a sea of fans raised and singing along. We are treated to a rendition of The Bangles Walk Like An Egyptian with a warm reception to the iconic track, after a brief intermission for Rice to get the lyrics up on a phone. Fan favourites The Drop and M5 receive perhaps the largest reaction of the night, with happy birthday being sung for keyboardist Ben Mack, who diverted from his thus far unchanging robotically static performance to allow a wry smile. During the encore they perform Here’s The Thing and Kutcher, during which rice sits atop a speaker at the side, before finally ending with Stanton.

Sports Team are a highly polished outfit with a whimsical joy about everything they do. They produce intensity and passion matched unequivocally by the fans who feel a devout connection with the Cambridge based group. They provide music that isn’t to be overanalysed or over discussed, despite the fact it is deserving of it, but to be enjoyed in exactly this environment. To be connected to, sweated to, and danced to. By those criteria, this night must be deemed an unanimous success.