Hinds review, Gorilla, Manchester: An infectious mood of fun and abandon

This is less of a rock show than an all-out party

There’s a real emotional intelligence behind the front the Madrid four-piece put up (Neelam Khanvela)

In Hinds’ world, just a few months off the road is a long time.

That’s immediately apparent in the manner that they take the stage; they bound out in front of a sold-out Manchester crowd with the sort of energy that brings the image of recently freed, caged animals to mind. The Madrid four-piece released their debut record, Leave Me Alone, in January of 2016 and toured constantly thereafter; if their social media presence was anything to go by, there was nowhere else they would rather have been, maintaining an impossibly sunny outlook through months of long flights, longer drives and countless beers.

They still played intermittently over the course of last year but spent most of their time working on what should, in theory, have been their difficult second album. I Don’t Run, released this month, certainly doesn’t sound like the work of a band who had to tangle with writer’s block to get it made, although that might be because it’s very much in the same vein as its predecessor – all laid back melodic guitars, noisy, unrefined vocals and a general sense of lo-fi, ramshackle charm.

In front of an audience, that modus operandi is turned up to eleven; this is less a rock show than an all-out party. I Don’t Run has been every bit as well-received critically as Leave Me Alone and it only narrowly missed out on a place in the top 40 and yet, where as with any other band you’d put tonight’s borderline carnival atmosphere down to them having plenty of reason to celebrate, Hinds are always like this – there’s a sense of fun and abandon that’s completely infectious.

The first half of the set involves a punchy run-through of new material; album opener and recent single “The Club” is evidently already a fan favourite, whilst the similarly bouncy “Echoing My Name” looks destined for similar status.

What’s easy to forget about Hinds, though, is that beneath the raucousness of their gigs and the woozy slacker aesthetic of their records, they often deal lyrically in heartbreak; like Mac DeMarco, there’s a real emotional intelligence behind the front that they put up and, accordingly, a couple of highlights among the new cuts tonight include “Soberland”, a track about trying to continue a relationship without chemical assistance, and “Linda”, which could very well be about the fizzling out of the same pairing.

Ultimately, though, it’s a testament to the power of Hinds’ live show that everybody in the packed-out room tonight appears to have headed here in the mood for a party, and the first-album likes of “Garden” and “Bamboo” go down a storm; as does “Davey Crockett”.

Meanwhile, a cover of a track by Thee Headcoatees that has become Hinds’ signature song, is delivered with almost maniacal energy, particularly from de facto frontwoman Ana Perrote. This is only the second show of what will surely go on to be an exhaustive run and yet, given how in love they clearly are with playing live, you wouldn’t expect the tail end of the tour to feel any less riotous than tonight.