15 November 2025 (gig)
17 November 2025
Alex G is a bit of an enigma. Outside of his songs, he isn’t comfortable sharing much about himself at all. In an age where authenticity sells and artists tend to cultivate devoted parasocial fanbases, Alex G is an outlier. With this in mind, there was a real buzz in the air at The Manchester Academy on Saturday as fans got a chance to see, and hear, Alex G in person.
Alex G burst into prominence around 2015 after going viral online for a string of early lo-fi home recorded records such as ‘Trick’ and ‘Beach Music’. Nowadays though, Alex G has long been recording in a proper recording studio, something he admitted he never wanted to do, and recently signed to a major record label to release his stunning tenth record ‘Headlights’. All the signs then pointed to Alex G having finally reconciled his battle with control and that he is ready to have a go at pleasing as many people as possible.
However, as usual, Alex G is prepared to break that expectation and present his music solely on his own terms. The show was punctuated with constant pointed subversions of his audience’s expectations. From minor details like front loading the set with big songs like ‘Runner’ and ‘Gretel’ to announcing very plainly at the end that he would be coming back for an encore. Alex G is not particularly interested in the mystique of live music as much as he clearly just enjoys playing his songs on his own terms. In a time when so much of an artists battle to stay relevant involves endless insincere fan service, it is exciting and refreshing to see Alex G wrestle back control single-mindedly and to perform completely on his own terms.
From a musical perspective, the evening followed the same defiant pattern too. Alex G clearly loves playing with his four piece band and was more than happy to play around with songs and arrangements to present them in fresh and loose ways. Whilst his studio recordings are usually lush, dense and deliberate, the live performances of these songs often took different turns and seemed to take the songs to entirely different places. Some songs, like ‘Kicker’ sounded much heavier whilst ‘Powerful Man’ became a ramshackle, off the cuff rockabilly number. He made use of all of the different instruments and vocal effects that make up his studio records but his disposal of a lot of those effects take the songs to new places and present them in familiar yet subtly different ways.
As he sings in one his latest songs ‘Beam Me Up’. “Somethings I do for love, somethings I do for money. It ain’t like I don’t love it.” Alex G may not love people looking past his songs but he does clearly love playing those songs. It’s a joy to hear him wrestle with his material and find ways of pulling those songs apart and putting them back together in new and exciting ways onstage.
Alex G doesn’t speak to his audience much. He doesn’t do much press and he makes sure to conceal as much of himself off as possible away from his songs. Perhaps it is no surprise then that even after taking the next step onto a major label that Alex G is still committed to simply letting his songs do the talking. With songs like these though, that remains more than enough.
