ANIMALS AS LEADERS
VENUE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER
DATE 14/03/2025
SUPPORT NIGHT VERSES
Abasi gets lost in the moment.
Night Verses Aric Improta: Danny Carey's padawan.
Animals As Leaders: all the fun of the flare.
KATJA OGRIN
Like the chiming of midnight on New Year’s Eve, anniversary tours provide ample opportunity for reflection. It’s been 11 years since Animals As Leader's boundarypushing Joy Of Motion LP came out –their 10-year jubilee kicked off in the States last year –and the band’s stock, fuelled by Tosin Abasi’s generational talents, has bulged considerably since. As they effortlessly churn out their gargantuan tunes in this former Wesleyan chapel and now superlative music hall, it’s clear no one has come close to matching them, either. The crowd is a singular knotted entity throughout, lapping up enough time signatures to make Phil Collins lose his mind.