My only previous encounter with Madina Lake was at Download 2011 when I was one of a small army of photographers shooting the band during their afternoon set. Despite their big punchy sound, the slender yet energetic figures I was observing on the huge stage looked somewhat distant given the scale and magnitude of the event. Tonight’s proposition at Manchester Academy-2 offered something quite different, and a chance to get up-close and personal with the band on this 16th show of their current European Tour.

Within minutes of the band assembling on stage the flood gates open with ‘Imagineer’ (World War III, 2011), which gets the evening’s business off to a high intensity start! From the outset audience interaction is an essential element of this gig, and by the time ‘Adallia’ and ‘Never Take Us Alive’ have played out Nathan Leone has already dived head-long into the madding crowd, surfed his way back again, and spent prolonged periods in the photo-pit immersing himself amongst the people! Madina Lake seem to be every bit as much ‘an attitude’ as they are a rock band, and you soon become stealthily infected by the bands overwhelming positive energy and all pervading jubilant demeanour.

The album ‘From Them To Us’ (2007) is well represented on the 14 song setlist tonight, with three songs from ‘Attics To Eden’ (2009) and the remainder from their excellent 2011 release ‘World War III’. The tracks ‘Howdy Neighbor’, ‘Hey Superstar’ and ‘They’re Coming For Me’ resonate perfectly the deeper ideas behind the Madina Lake concept, and also in how they reflect the personal struggles that the brothers and band members have endured and conquered. This sense of triumphalism is delivered through the performance with the clinical precision of a smart bomb, and to hypnotic effect.

Whilst the interaction between Nathan and Matthew Leone are a key component of Madina Lake and a core energy source, Matteo Camargo delivers the goods most eloquently on guitar; be it heavy and down tuned one minute or delicately melodious the next, the transitions are skilled and seamless. Not to be left unsung, Dan Torelli holds it all together at the rear on drums, and is later the subject of much goading when he is accused by Nathan of being the shy one who never speaks! Fun and frivolity is very much a central feature of the performance, but underlying this the music remains focused in its tightness, delivery and meaning.

To sum things up, this was a very different Madina Lake to the one I briefly saw at Download. This was a Madina Lake in its natural element, alive and kicking, right in-your-face and brimming with positive interactive energy. This was a band completely in touch with the fans, and from the performance tonight Madina Lake convey one obvious and simple message; live for the moment and live every moment to its fullest.

Set List: Imagineer, Adallia, Never Take Us Alive, Let’s Get Outta Here, House of Cards, Now or Never, One Last kiss, Howdy Neighbor, Hey Superstar, Da Limp, Here I Stand, Welcome to Oblivion, They’re Coming For Me, True Love