The Cavs - Manchester’s Next Indie Rabble-Rousers Take Over Gorilla
Gorilla, Manchester – 3rd October 2026
WORDS / IMAGES LUKE STOREY
There’s something wonderfully refreshing about walking into a small venue after spending what feels like half your life rattling around Academy rooms and arenas. No security cordons, no enormous video screens, no VIP nonsense — just a sweaty little room, a stage, some battered equipment and a bunch of people who actually give a shit.
Gorilla on Friday night had exactly that feel.
The room was gradually filling with friends, family, familiar faces and, more importantly, the beginnings of a proper fanbase. You could feel that this wasn’t simply another Friday night gig. This was a local band being given the chance to stand up and say, this is our town, this is our music, and this is where we’re going.
First up were Manchester five-piece Dreaming Of Citra, easing the night into gear with an atmospheric strain of indie rock. The room was still relatively sparse when they walked on, which can be a cruel environment for any band. Empty space has a nasty habit of making even the best performers look smaller than they are.
But Dreaming Of Citra weren't having any of it.
They stood their ground and delivered their set with confidence, building an understated atmosphere that slowly began to pull people towards the stage. There was no desperate attempt to win over a half-filled room. They simply played, and let the music do the work.
Then came Unit 17, and suddenly the temperature went up a few degrees.
Keeping the indie foundations firmly in place but throwing in a generous dose of old-school Britpop swagger, Unit 17 were considerably less interested in standing around politely. They wanted people moving. They wanted bodies filling the gaps. And judging by the gradual migration towards the front, they got their wish.
Frontman Jonah Shaw was impossible to ignore. Constantly moving, pulling faces, working every inch of the stage and generally looking like he'd consumed several cans of something questionable before coming on. It was theatrical without becoming ridiculous, energetic without feeling forced.
Most importantly, Unit 17 understood the simple mathematics of playing support: you've got to leave the headline act with a crowd that's warmed up and ready to go.
Mission accomplished.
By the time The Cavs walked onto the Gorilla stage, the room had properly filled out. The hardcore followers were pressed against the barrier, friends and family were scattered throughout the crowd and there was that unmistakable sense that something was about to happen.
And The Cavs looked like a band who knew exactly where they were.
There was genuine pride in the way they walked onto that stage. Headlining a venue like Gorilla in your own city isn't nothing. Manchester has produced enough legendary bands to make any young indie outfit think twice before picking up a guitar. The ghosts are everywhere.
Thankfully, The Cavs don't appear particularly interested in becoming another Oasis tribute act.
Opening with “Man In The Suit”, they immediately established the pace of the night before moving into their latest single, “Hallowed Ground.” The songs have the familiar DNA of Manchester indie — guitars, attitude, melody and that slightly scruffy confidence that seems to be genetically encoded into bands from this part of the world — but they aren't simply reheating the Stone Roses and Oasis leftovers for the thousandth time.
There are shades of The Libertines in there, a little Kasabian swagger, and enough of their own identity beginning to emerge to suggest that The Cavs might actually have something worth hanging around for.
And that's the interesting thing about watching a band this early in their journey.
Their discography is still small. That's inevitable. You don't walk into a grassroots venue expecting a band with 25 years of material behind them. What matters is whether they already have songs that can carry a room.
The Cavs do.
More importantly, they have the stage presence to match.
Their lead singer bounced between vocals, guitar and synths throughout the set, giving the performance a restless quality that kept things moving. There was no sense of a band simply standing there waiting for the next song to finish. They looked comfortable up there, and comfort is something you can't fake.
The final stretch was where they really threw the doors open, closing with “Chasing The World” and “People Like Me.” Two of the night's biggest tunes, and exactly the kind of songs you want to hear at the end of a headline set — big enough to leave the crowd with something ringing in their ears as they stumble back out into Manchester.
If I'm being brutally honest, though, I did find myself looking around at the crowd occasionally and thinking: Come on, Manchester, you've had a few drinks — now bloody move.
The Cavs were putting the energy in. The band were clearly ready for a riot. The audience, for the most part, seemed to be enjoying themselves, but there was room for a little more chaos down the front.
Maybe that's coming.
Because The Cavs are still at the beginning of this particular story, and that's what made Friday night interesting. This wasn't a finished product. It was a band in the process of becoming something.
They've got the songs. They've got the confidence. They've got the stage presence. And they've got that most valuable commodity of all for a young Manchester band — somewhere to go.
I can easily see The Cavs turning up on more and more indie bills over the next few years, graduating from small rooms to bigger stages as the songs and following grow.
For now, Gorilla was a good place to start.
The big question isn't whether The Cavs can go further.
It's how far they're prepared to go.
NO SET LIST AVAILABLE
CONNECT WITH THE CAVS
Comments