The Lottery Winners at Staggeringly Good: 'A victory lap for the chart-toppers' | Review

The Lottery Winners campaigned hard around the release of their new album Anxiety Replacement Therapy, and in a busy week of new releases, were rewarded with a number one.

This is thanks in no small part to their fervent fanbase who bought the album in droves. As a result this leg of the tour in the week where they sit atop the charts has become nothing less than a victory lap and sweet vindication for the hard-working and fiercely independent Greater Manchester four-piece.

And of course the indie-pop act have bought their ‘number one’ trophy with them which is held aloft on numerous occasions – and even gets passed around the crowd to take selfies with. There are cheeky digs at their chart rivals throughout.

Frontman Thom Rylance is on typically chatty form, sharing anecdotes and one-liners aplenty – ‘We’ve got a number one album on an Ibis budget!’, or ‘I know you didn’t pay to see a fat man cry,’ during an emotional intro to Letter To Myself, and most poignantly how they were initially signed by music biz legend Seymour Stein, only for it to go wrong when Stein was ousted from the label and they opted to leave too.

Thanks to their manager producer Tristan Ivemy being a Portsmouth native, as are their backing singers (dubbed the Favourite Flavours after an early track,) the band have long-since been adopted by the city.

This show, a Pie & Vinyl out-store, sold out a while ago, and the crowd are up for it – singing along from the word go.

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The singles from ART may be missing their starry guests, but Rylance gets to unleash his inner Shaun Ryder on Money while an audience member is brought on stage to be his ‘Bez.’

Guitarist Rob Lally steps over to take the lead on Boy George’s parts on Let Me Down, while the audience fills in for Frank Turner on the aforementioned Letter to Myself.

The latter, written by Rylance to his troubled 12-year-old self to let him know that everything will be okay packs an emotional wallop as well as an enormous chorus.

There are also fluffed lines and forgotten verses, but no one minds when it’s this much fun.

Bassist Katie Lloyd takes the lead on in the infectious Burning House – another set highpoint.

As they reach the inevitable encores Rylance lets slip that they’re coming back to the city later in the year to play at The Box – a date that hasn’t officially been announced yet.

First up is Emerald City – introduced as the first song they ever wrote – which segues into a lovely a capella version of The Housemartins’ Caravan of Love by Lally, Loyd and Rylance.

They finish with 21, but rework the chorus ever so slightly to ‘This is how it feels to be number one.’ Perfect. Their glee is infectious making it impossible to not root for these lovable scamps.

As Ed Sheeran’s latest album takes the number one spot this week with crushing inevitability, you can’t help but feel that it won’t bring half the happiness to all involved.