Walking up to the Student Union Building I can see a ridiculously long queue and am momentarily perplexed. I push my way to the front, noting the support band are due on in five minutes and as I enter the building can see swathes of young whippersnappers on their way to Academy 2 for something obviously less palatable than the delights on offer upstairs. 

Within minutes Kid Bookie takes to the stage. It is loud, louder than any other gig I have been to in here for a while, heavy, obnoxious and sweary. Described as rap rock (also trap rock – anyone? Not sure to be honest) and heavy metal, this is just what I needed after a long day at work. Tyronne Buddy-Lee Ike Hill, better known by his stage name Kid Bookie, is a guitarist, musician, singer, and unsurprisingly, a rapper, from South-East London. After the onslaught of the first song, he sets the scene and says the night is all about death, he says he does not need to mention the name, but we all know who he means, and he is right. I can tell I am going to like this performance.

Accompanying him on stage there is another guitarist, a bassist, and drummer and they charge through a mixture of material that is at times more metal, before shifting back to more heavily rap. They pack a lot in to their short set… Deep breath… a broken guitar (he claims he is known for it but was on a winning streak having not broken one for four days); one song where he seems to forget what is going on but pulls it off regardless; repeatedly opening and entering the pits which are occupied by a mostly young crowd (which thankfully is becoming more busy now that queue has cleared); a rather impressive performance of ‘Stuck in my Ways’ a song his friend Corey Taylor sadly cannot join him for, which I think he is joking about, only to discover later he has done not one, but two songs with Corey Taylor, plus appearing on “CMFT Must be Stopped”. You can find the videos on YouTube. I recommend you give them all a watch. 

We also get a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, which is dedicated to all the creeps and weirdos (we are there en masse, I do not think I have seen so much colourful hair at a gig in a long while – everyone looks fab), but with an important message, that receives rapturous applause, that too many people are trying to impress people that they do not even like or aspire to be like. I echo that sentiment and would add, stealing these words “Be yourself, everyone else is taken” (Oscar Wilde). We also get rather bloody knuckles from punching his mic into the floor when he descends into the pit at the end of the set, plus falling off the stage (I missed that but luckily, he appears unhurt). Tonight, he has gained himself at least one new fan and follower, though I suspect plenty more. And yes, you are totally right on your tweet – the hottest girls do go to metal gigs!!! 

So, after all that whirlwind of action we get to the main act, Cassyette. This is my third time seeing her live following Diddy, and this year’s, Download Festival, but I am super excited to see her perform in this tiny, and not surprisingly sold-out venue. The place is now cram-packed, and the atmosphere is building once again as the band arrive on stage. She is joined by a guitarist and a drummer, gone are the long plaits from Download, leaving just her instantly recognisable cropped blonde hair and it is like a ball of energy just rolled into the room. The place leaps into action with first song ‘Picture Perfect’ and again the volume is set to LOUD! 

Cassyette unleashed her first ever single in 2019 and writes songs for various artists and labels as well as herself. Her music is rock/ pop and catchy as hell. She has been compared to the likes of P!nk and although she has released 12 singles to date there is yet to be a full album. Tonight, we are treated to a 15 track setlist, of which I know about five songs, but the audience, for the most part, seem to know them all and gleefully sing along. This is especially true for second totally anthemic, and in your face number ‘Dear Goth’. It is about now I wish I had not come straight from work and was looking a bit more goth, rather than Marketing Manager! 

“Dear Goth, can you help me?
Can you get here any sooner?
'Cause I feel like a creep
I feel like a fucking loser”

Unbeknownst to me, apparently Cassyette’s huge following is mostly from TikTok (and Spotify). I, being on the wrong side of 40, find all that stuff quite alien but wholeheartedly support new music getting to as many ears as possible, in whatever ways possible. She engages well with the crowd, including getting one audience member on stage to sing with her for “Behind Closed Doors”. Not many words are spoken, but with such a powerful and energetic performance from start to finish the audience are transfixed throughout. She shows her appreciation, of course, and says Manchester is always “lit!” Throughout the night she opens the pits numerous times and enters the crowd. It gets a bit rough at the front and starts to feel quite cramped where I am standing on my ownsome. I am wishing it was not a school night and I had some mates with me. This does not however, diminish my enjoyment as she races through further songs including a cover of ‘Falling Down’ by Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION (? nope me neither) and then my favourite Cassyette song ‘Mayhem’ which she dedicates to everyone’s exes, certainly capturing the full attention of the room with the raw emotion of love gone bad…

“Its mayhem
Mayhem
I know you are pretty bored
Oh your love is just a chore
It's mayhem, mayhem”

There is a great rapport with her band mates and that boundless enthusiasm continues as they march through the setlist. She talks about writing the song ‘Delete You’ which is about judgemental friends and how sometimes you must remove people from your life… and all I can say to that is hell yeah! No one needs toxic people in their life, they are not your friends. We get to the last few songs, and it all seems to be coming to an end far too quickly, but then someone enters the stage, and the music suddenly stops. Someone is injured in the rowdy pit during ‘Petrichor’, but after a pause they say they are okay, and the song starts again from the beginning. The crowd are ecstatic and joyously sing-along from the top. The final song is 2021 single ‘Prison Purse’, and the place continues to party… but somewhere in the distance there is the faint sound of a fire alarm… the band disappear, and it looks like that is it, only for the alarm to continue, but seemingly oblivious they return to do another performance of ‘Dear Goth’ for the encore. It is all a bit disconcerting but then I remember it is nearly Freshers Week… and having worked in a university for a few years you do get blasé about the alarms in September as they are a regular occurrence. Song over, the band really do disappear, and we escape into the night, alarms still sounding and security looking rather confused. 

All in all, a great night and I have absolutely no doubt next time Cassyette performs in Manchester it will be in a bigger venue, so I suggest you buy your tickets as soon as you can. Oh, and a public health announcement, if you were at this gig and have been feeling a bit rough, take a test. I do not know where I picked up Covid, but it was either over the weekend or in Academy 3. It is definitely getting bad again out there, so let us all look out for each other.