Madchester psychedelic band Inspiral Carpets were on tour again following their reformation in 2023, with the same lineup of Stephen Holt (vocals), Clint Boon (keyboards, backing vocals), Graham Lambert (guitar) and Martyn Walsh (bass) with new drummer Kev Clarke who replaces the late Craig Gill.
The band did a similar set list to their last few tours albeit in a different order, taken from their ‘Life’, Devil Hopping’ and ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ studio albums, with the pump of ‘Generations’ early on in the show and spilling Farfisa, then performing ‘She Comes in the Fall’; its unique mix of militarised, post-punk beat and ’60s psychedelia referencing Love, The Doors and The Rolling Stones with a whipped frenzy of Farfisa finishing on a mind bending riff. John Cooper Clarke’s poetics featured in ‘Let You Down’ alongside spidery scaling keyboard and a stripped back interlude, although Holt’s voice was not on top form as he self-confessed.
‘Directing Traffik’ followed with baseball organ and more of the same in the faster punk pace of ‘Find Out Why’. The band is recording new material again and performed a new single due for release in February next year: ‘Drag the Bag’ – tumbling keyboard and monosyllabics. They played the gothic Damned-like stir of ‘Sackville’ before a treadmill of top 20 singles: the hymnic singalong of ‘This is How it Feels’, manic dance track ‘I Want You’ with its Mark E. Smith sample and the bassy Madchester vibes of ‘Dragging Me Down’, which descended into a trancey electronic storm to end the main set. They closed their show on the soulful surf of ‘Saturn 5’, unfortunately despite time seemingly allowing not playing any further songs during the encore.
11/12/25: Inspiral Carpets @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London.
Photos © Peter Tainsh.
© Ayisha Khan.