A masterclass in how to get from the back room of the Castle Hotel to a sold-out Albert Hall in under three years
Nicholas Eden, of English Teacher, performs during a concert at The 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin on November 8(Image: Redferns)
For English Teacher, tonight’s lesson objective is a straightforward one – how to get from the back room of the Castle Hotel to a sold-out Albert Hall in under three years.
There was obviously something markedly different about this Leeds four-piece when they headlined that eighty-capacity Northern Quarter boozer just before Christmas of 2022; having cut their teeth on new talent stages at festivals that past summer – as well as at the Apollo, opening for Yeah Yeah Yeahs – they were clearly ready to commit their own, idiosyncratic brand of indie rock to record.
A year later, they played an accomplished show at the Night & Day that suggested success was nailed-on, but what happened next caught even their keenest supporters by surprise; released in April 2024, This Could Be Texas came out sounding like one of the 21st century’s finest indie rock debuts. The Mercury Prize panel agreed, and last September, the north of England saw its first winner of the award since 2008.
Plans for a quick fire follow-up were put on ice, as a wide-eyed English Teacher instead took the album on an extended victory lap, one that took in The Ritz this time last year, Wythenshawe Park in August in support of Fontaines D.C. and now, this, their biggest-ever Manchester gig, in front of a sold-out Albert Hall.
Lily Fontaine, of English Teacher, in Dublin on November 8(Image: Redferns)
It serves as one last showcase for this brilliant album, a wonderfully ambitious, stylistically daring piece hewn together by Lily Fontaine’s gorgeous lyricism. At least in the short-to-medium term, the band’s name will be inextricably tied to the word mercury; it’s fitting, at least, because of ‘This Could Be Texas’ quicksilver nature.
It still feels hard to predict even now, so broad is its stylistic remit, and the group slide in polished fashion between furious proto-punk (‘R&B’, ‘Broken Biscuits’), scorchingly emotive balladry (‘Mastermind Specialism’, ‘You Blister My Paint’) and thrillingly daring experimentalism (‘Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space’).
The Leeds four-piece paid tribute to Mani during their Manchester show (stock photo from Dublin, November 8)(Image: Redferns)
This is a well-drilled set with only the occasional step off of the beaten path of the past eighteen months; there’s a brief, instrumental tease of The Stone Roses’ ‘Waterfall’ in honour of Mani, following the sad announcement of his death just hours earlier, although what might be a more fitting tribute to him is that two new songs follow, ‘This Is a Good Age’ and ‘Billboards’.
The band played the latter across town at Soup eighteen months ago, the same week that This Could Be Texas came out; that night, playing an album launch show, they seemed determined to crack on with their second record already.
What happened next was beyond their wildest dreams, but this feels like the very end of this glorious album cycle. There are plenty of great northern talents to hold the fort while they’re home – not least The Orielles, Manchester’s brilliant pop experimentalists, who played a superb opening set tonight and have a massive 2026 in front of them. Tonight, though, was about a last hurrah for This Could Be Texas – one of this decade’s defining records.