Review by Ses
March 21, 2003

I arrived at the Apollo, Manchester at about 7:00 only to see what felt like millions of 'Mini-Avrils'. Although I did purchase the ticket with the intention of watching Avril perform, when I discovered that a Canadian band named 'Our Lady Peace' would be supporting , I felt like I should know at least some of the songs OLP would be playing. So I visited their website and listened to a few of their songs only to be overwhelmed by the power of these songs. When I went into school the next day singing the catchy chorus of 'Innocent' and someone quickly asked me how I knew the song and offered to lend me 'Gravity', to which I accepted and listened to frequently up until the concert (along with 'Spiritual Machines' which I bought.)

       Anyway…back to the 21st. As I walked past the tons of Lavigne fans (me included…I admit it!) I noticed several OLP shirts and even a couple of people quietly singing 'Julia'. Once we had entered the Apollo, I observed a queue of people buying OLP tour shirts (damn I wish I'd have bought one!). As the merchandise queue was so long, me and my friends decided to continue to the standing area and buy a shirt etc. on the way out.

       We waited until about 8ish until finally the lights went out and the OLP band-name logo was projected onto the black curtain. From what I could see, it was only me and the guy whom I was standing next to (Rob, I think his name was) who waited in anticipation for Raines opening note. Then, eventually it came. Following the first song 'Talk Is Cheap' (which I wasn't familiar with) I heard a voice next to me quietly say to her friend: 'Hey, I like that guys voice!, a comment which I was delighted to hear!

       During the rest of the set, the crowd remained remotely still (although, to be fair, the majority of them held their arms in the air holding that infamous 'rock-horn' pose). Not much noise was made from the crowd (apart from me and Rob, who sang our lungs out!) until OLP played 'Somewhere Out There', when I saw at least 20 people singing along (another sight which I was happy to see). The pro/anti-war vote was special to me as I am strongly anti-war (hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion), to which the greater part of the crowd voted anti-war (OLP's chosen opinion).

       Although I was unhappy that OLP were only minutes from ending their set, I knew that it would happen and gave it my all when singing their final song 'Starseed'. Once OLP said their 'Thankyou Manchester' they received a bigger applause than I had predicted, and although Avril would shortly be performing, there was a feeling that the crowd didn't want Our Lady Peace to leave, which surprised me even more (I can imagine it would be hard to turn that many Lavignee's!)

P.S. The guitar solo for Birdman rocked!