The Clockworks at the Deaf Institute: RGM Press's glowing review revisited

Few reviews of a live act read as warmly as the one RGM Press published on 10 October 2022 after The Clockworks played the Deaf Institute in Manchester. The piece, written by a critic whose name is not given in the byline, treated the evening as a standout and described it as breathtaking and memorable. Looking back at it now offers a useful snapshot of how the band were being received on stage at that point in their development.

What the critic responded to most strongly was the quality of the playing. The drumming was described as metronomic and precise, the kind of control that gives a whole performance its spine. Beyond the rhythm section, the band's musicianship was judged tight and effortless, suggesting a group that sounded completely at ease with its own material rather than straining to hold it together. For a live show, that kind of composure is often what separates a competent night from a memorable one.

The energy of the set also drew attention. The opening was high-energy and, according to the review, set the tone for the rest of the night, giving the performance a sense of momentum from its first moments. The reviewer also noted the crowd's response as part of what made the evening stick, a reminder that a room's reaction can shape how a band's set is remembered as much as the songs themselves.

The verdict is the most striking part of the piece. The critic placed the Deaf Institute show among the best they had seen from a rising band in recent years, a comparison that asks a good deal of any act. The review carries no numerical rating, so its praise rests entirely on the prose, but the language is unambiguous in its enthusiasm.

Taken together, the review paints The Clockworks as a band whose strength on stage lay in precision and momentum rather than spectacle alone. It is a retrospective view of a single night, and it should be read as one writer's account of that evening. Still, as a record of how the band were heard in Manchester in October 2022, it remains one of the more emphatic accounts of their live work from that period.