Zebrahead at Rebellion Manchester 11-08-25

The Bottom Line

UK south coast pop-punk band The Bottom Line showed they know how to work a crowd from the get-go. They took to the stage of the club venue with ease, regularly joking around with the crowd, which truly set the tone for the night, bringing the fun and energy needed to get everyone set for the headliners. With singer Cal Amies saying they would do their ‘best impression’ of Jaret Reddick, lead singer of Bowling For Soup, as he couldn’t be there to sing with them, they launched headfirst into ‘Unpredictable’, which got the crowd singing along. Amies also announced, ‘We have wives at home that think we’re rockstars but in reality we’re performing in bars and playing Trombone Champ,’ resulting in an eruption of laughter from the crowd.

The Bottom Line released their latest album ‘Life Lately’ in March, so it was a real treat to hear five of their new songs live. They finished off their set by encouraging the crowd to circle as Amies and guitarist Tom Newton performed from the middle of the pit, as well as Amies’ later crowdsurfing for the final song. The band truly got the crowd involved and delivered an amazing set full of humour and honest pop-punk. I’d highly recommend seeing the band to anyone who needs more pop punk in their life.

Zebrahead

Zebrahead brought the punk-rock party to Manchester as they hit the stage for the second night of their UK headline tour, the first of which was sold out, with dedicated fans waiting eagerly to see the band. The stage was decorated with skeleton props, and the band’s bar with an array of drinks (which they later on brought a couple of members of the crowd onto the stage to dance with them and drink from their bar!). If you thought the already tightly packed venue couldn’t get any warmer on an already hot day, the guys in Zebrahead made sure that everyone would be leaving sweaty through encouraging pits, jumping, crowd surfing,and the lot.

The setlist for the night was varied, which made for a fun night for everyone, ranging from songs from earlier releases like ‘MFZB’, all the way up to their newer releases with songs like ‘Lay Me To Rest’ and ‘Sink Like a Stone’. The crowd’s reactions were very telling that they loved every second of the setlist, even the joking between the band throughout the set was enough to feel like you were at a mate’s house party instead of at a gig. Vocalist Ali Tabatabaee even got the crowd to sing happy birthday to lead guitarist Dan Palmer for his “birthday month” between songs.

The band also performed their rendition of ‘Fight For Your Right’ by the Beastie Boys, which fit in seamlessly with the rest of their set. A Zebrahead set is never complete without utter chaos ensuing; this night was no exception, featuring bubble guns on stage, the onslaught of crowd surfers making their way to the stage and back into the pit, crew members in skeleton onesie’s spinning Palmer round during his solo and then the crew members crowd surfing one on top of the other during the encore in the same skeleton onesies. Truly, the only thing missing was a crowd-surfing zebra in an inflatable boat (witnessed at another gig on the same tour).

A Zebrahead gig is not one to be missed, and their years of touring is enough to back that, on top of the chaos they bring to every gig. If you couldn’t catch them this time around, definitely grab tickets to see them next time, and get on them fast, or they will likely sell out just as quickly!