The Feeling - Manchester Academy 1 - 13/03/08 by Rachel Hamer

The Feeling hail from Sussex and London and are a soft rock band that can't help but remind you of the electro pop from the 1980's. Their debut single "Sewn" entered the UK top ten in 2006 and the album "Twelve Stops And Home" made it to number two. They are yet another success story from the Brit School and before their debut played gigs out in the Alps. Their follow up album "Join With Us" was released in February and has made number one in the UK Charts.

The Band arrived onstage at the packed out Academy and the crowd were already raring to go. The colourful array of lights lit up the stage and the music followed. They kicked off the show with their latest single "I Thought It Was Over" which definitely started the show with a bang.

They did several tracks from the new album including "Turn It Up", "Join With Us" and "Without You" which is to be their next release. They of course did all the favourites from their first album including "Sewn", "Never Be Lonely" and "I Love It When You Call" which had the whole academy jumping up and down.

Not all the songs are as fast paced and their are some beautiful slow ballads that give Dan Gillespe Sells (lead vocals) a chance to show off his piano skills as well like "Strange" and "Don't Make Me Sad".

Having a very eighties pop influence they of course had to do their infamous cover of The Buggles, "Video Killed The Radio Star" and Dan even mentioned that Trevor Horn from The Buggles was playing over the road at the same time and might even be doing his version, although theirs would be much faster.

What we weren't expecting however was an amazing cover of "Together In Electric Dreams" originally done by Giorgio Moroder and Phil Oakey. It suited their sound perfectly and I believe it would be a sure fire number one hit if they were to release it. Judging by the crowds reaction to it anyway, I don't think there was one person who wasn't singing along.

The Feeling are going from strength to strength and have just announced they will be one of the main stage headliners for this years V Festival. With several other gigs scheduled for this year and a number one album now in the bag it looks like they are going to be around for a while yet.