The Divine Comedy Cast a Spell at Bridgewater Hall - Neil Hannon’s Witty Masterclass in Pop Perfection
- Desh Kapur
- Oct 26
- 2 min read
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, October 24th 2025
IMAGES / WORDS DESH KAPUR
Bridgewater Hall isn’t your typical gig venue — no sticky floors, no overpriced lager in plastic cups, no tinnitus-inducing sound bleed. It’s Manchester’s cathedral of sound: sleek wood, perfect acoustics, and an almost sacred hush before a note is played. But on this particular Friday night, it wasn’t a symphony orchestra taking the stage — it was Neil Hannon and The Divine Comedy, proving that intelligence, wit, and melody can hit just as hard as any rock ’n’ roll riot. It’s the kind of place where music doesn’t just echo — it resonates. And venues like this? We should hold on to them like gold dust.
Three decades in, Neil Hannon remains one of British pop’s true eccentrics — part Noël Coward, part Jarvis Cocker, part literary mischief-maker in a velvet jacket. With Rainy Sunday Afternoon, his latest album, Hannon’s leaning into nostalgia and nuance rather than bombast — the sound of an artist who knows exactly what he’s saying and how he wants to say it. It’s lush, playful, self-aware, and quietly devastating all at once.
Live, The Divine Comedy are less a band and more a finely tuned theatre troupe. The crowd — a glorious patchwork of ages and backgrounds — didn’t roar so much as listen, hanging on every perfectly enunciated lyric. The set flowed between new material and old favourites, each delivered with that signature mix of irony and sincerity that’s pure Hannon. “Generation Sex”, “The Last Time I Saw the Old Man”, “At the Indie Disco” and “Bang Goes the Knighthood” all shimmered with wry brilliance, while “Something for the Weekend” turned Bridgewater Hall’s polite reverence into a full-blown singalong.
Hannon isn’t a rock god — he’s something rarer. A magician of the mundane. A wordsmith who turns the everyday into art and the ordinary into opera. Watching him command the stage with nothing more than a hat, raised eyebrow and a perfectly timed grin is like seeing subtlety itself take centre stage.
By the time “Invisible Thread” and “Tonight We Fly” wrapped up the night, it felt less like a concert and more like a reminder of what intelligent pop can do — amuse, move, and completely disarm you.
In an era obsessed with spectacle, Neil Hannon proves that wit, melody, and storytelling are still the best special effects in music. A divine night, indeed.
SET LIST
Achilles
The Last Time I Saw the Old Man
When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe
Rainy Sunday Afternoon
Norman and Norma
Your Daddy's Car
I Want You
Bang Goes the Knighthood
Our Mutual Friend
Generation Sex
At the Indie Disco
Neapolitan Girl
Mar-a-Lago by the Sea
A Lady of a Certain Age
Freedom Road
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
In Pursuit of Happiness
Absent Friends
Becoming More Like Alfie
Something for the Weekend
National Express
Encore:
Songs of Love
Invisible Thread
Tonight We Fly
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