Returning to Manchester for the first time since 2018, The Cadillac Three bring the second night of their Hillbilly Hypnotised Tour to Manchester’s Academy, promising a night of hard-hitting country rock riffs, ear-worming hooks, and of course, beer. There is a clear dress code for the night largely consisting of denim, leather, baseball caps, and even the occasional Stetson.
The job of warming up the crowd falls to multitalented Canadian artist Lindsay Ell, providing her trademark catchy choruses, 80s inspired monster solos, and plenty of musical call-backs, including references to Bohemian Rhapsody, Prince’s Purple Rain guitar solo, as well as Kashmir, all of which successfully amping up the crowd for what is to follow. Excitement in the room continues to swell in the half hour interval in anticipation of the Nashville rockers return to Manchester. The crowd clearly full of energy as they sing and clap along to the songs playing between acts, giving the feeling this will definitely be an atmosphere to remember.
A chanting electronic backing track plays as the band emerge on the stage, drinks in hand, with singer Jaren Johnston donning baseball cap and sunglasses, and Lap steel player Kelby Ray both cleverly having pint holders on their microphone stands. Perhaps drummer Neil Mason is the designated driver of the night as he sensibly is just on water. They open up with ‘Hard Out Here For A Country Boy’ allowing for an instantaneous singalong moment from the off. The groove of the riff grasps the whole crowd, ending with a high energy solo holding you onto every note. They keep up the energy by restlessly rattling through ‘Blue El Camino, Crackin’ Cold Ones With The Boys,’ and ‘The Jam.’ It is at this point they take a brief pause, where Johnston introduces his fellow members and telling us they are from Nashville Tennessee, as though there were any doubt of their deep south heritage. ‘Bury Me In My Boots’ and ‘Slide’ follow this, Johnstone involving the crowd, asking “Can I get a hell yeah? Can I get an all right?” with drummer Mason amplifying the energy of the crowd by standing and playing
‘Tennessee Mojo’ and ‘Back It Up’ come next, after which Johnstone remarks how often we in Manchester use the term “gutted” stating how they were “gutted not to come back” as they were unable to promote either of their latest two albums ‘Country Fuzz’ or ‘Tabasco and Sweet Tea’ due to the pandemic. He also remarks about how Manchester was where they first “really felt like rockstars” and how this was “the only thing all of us are good at” provoking a good cheer from the audience. The thus far unrelenting hard hitters take a brief pause for a few more heartfelt songs in ‘Peace Love and Dixie’, ‘Hank and Jesus’, ‘American Slang’, and ‘Take Me To The Bottom’, culminating in an epic shredded solo which concludes the softer section of the set.
It's at this point that opener Lindsay Ell is brought out to feature on a few songs, much to the delight of the crowd. Kelby Ray moves to bass guitar to have all four of them across the face of the stage now. They play ‘Head Over Wheels, Sweet Southern Spirit,’ and title track of the album from which these three all feature ‘Tabasco & Sweet Tea’ in which Ell and Johnston trade solos, after which she departs bringing us to the home stretch of the set. ‘Down To The River’ and ‘Raise Hell’ acting as a return of the uncompromising hard hitting riffs, followed by ‘Days of Gold’ harking back to more shuffle based country rock, even giving his guitar to a member of the crowd at the end which miraculously sounded somewhat still musical. The choice to opt against retreating to return for an encore really does feel in keeping with their unrelenting riffs and grooves the whole evening. They finish up with singalong heavy ‘White Lightning’ allowing everyone to join in with the oh’s of the chorus, and finally ‘The South’, onomatopoeic of their whole set with the singalong line “This is where I was born, and this is where I will die”, even pausing late on for an acapella rendition of the line, just to return yet again for the refrain.
They show their appreciation for the crowd throwing plectrums and drumsticks, Johnston even pausing to trade caps with a member of the front row, emblematic of their image as just regular guys and their connection with their fans is clearly a close one.
