It is very hard to write a single bad word about either Evil Scarecrow or Ten Foot Wizard as they are both just so much fun. Neither of them will win Grammys or be looked at in twenty years as being of high cultural importance or will do anything that will change the world, but that does not matter as they both ensure I have a massive grin on my face from the moment that Ten Foot Wizard take the stage in their natty beach wear to the moment that, soundtracked by 'Here I go Again’, Evil Scarecrow take their bows. 

Ten Foot Wizard are local Manc heroes (despite what Guitarist and Vocalist Gary Harden’s thick Irish accent may tell you) and there is a good healthy and vocal crowd to greet them. The brand of heavy Blues that they deploy is by no means unique (Clutch are consulting their lawyers as we speak) but is delivered with such enthusiasm and vigour that the lack of originality becomes irrelevant. There is less of a parody angle to their music than their tour mates (it would be hard to be honest to have more of parody angle than Evil Scarecrow) but there is still a real playful edge to Ten Foot Wizard (Banana shaped guitars and aborted attempts at a wall of love) that means they set the evening up beautifully. Their set ends with ‘Covered in Tits’ with both the Heron and the loudhailer wheeled out as the energy, enthusiasm and irreverence are further wrenched up. In my humble opinion Ten Foot Wizard are one of Manchester’s musical best kept secrets, hopefully tonight’s euphoric performance will have seen them win over many new friends.

There is something wonderfully British about Evil Scarecrow’s self-deprecating bonkersness. They are the Heavy Metal Black Lace with a dance routine for every track and a tongue firmly planted in their collective cheeks. There is no ego here and this isn’t a sly wink wink ‘aren’t we awfully clever’ irony like say Steel Panther, everyone is allowed to be in on the joke and invited to the party. But also this isn’t about being silly for silly’ sake, like any good parody Evil Scarecrow are reverential about their source material. They are not taking the piss out of metal's many absurdities, they are embracing them and laughing along with them. 'Blacken Everything' plays with Metallica’s penchant to be utterly miserable, 'Ballad of Brother Pain' is every early nineties Thrash ballad and 'Antartartica' is essentially a wonderfully faithful facsimile of a Dream Theater epic. The fact is as well as being funny they are all bloody great tracks and the crowd is heartedly singing, as well as laughing, along.

Over the course of an hour and a half Evil Scarecrow provide one of the most enjoyable stage shows I have seen this year. There are more props and special effects than most Sci-fi movies and yes its more Plan 9 from Outer Space than Star Wars but that’s part of the charm. We get battling robots, drumming skeletons, aliens, UFO’s, massive slugs, NASA spacemen, robotic crabs, one of those huge inflatable men you get outside car showrooms and guest appearances from Link of Legends of Zelda and Chun-Li from Street Fighter 2. They may all have been lovingly created with Papier-Mache and sticky back plastic in someone’s garage but the effort that Evil Scarecrow go to make their show a riot of colourfulness and wackiness puts most other more ‘serious’ bands to shame.

But whilst the numerous props, sexy dance battles and banter are highly amusing, they are not what makes tonight so special. It’s the fact that Evil Scarecrow are essentially five mates having an absolute whale of a time playing around with the music that they all obviously love. That sense of innocent fun and unadulterated passion is highly infectious and is the real reason that I, and everyone else in the packed Club Academy, leave with that aforementioned grin on our faces.