GIG REVIEW: Splendour at Off The Square, Manchester - 16th October 2025

To conclude their 2025 'Splen-Tour' shows in September and October, Splendour took to the stage as the headline act at Off The Square, a grassroots music venue in Manchester's lively Northern Quarter. Despite only being a six-piece on the night, due to the absence of their talented keyboardist, the band charmed the crowd with commendable enthusiasm and confidence. Overall, they most definitely achieved a memorable performance of 'splendour', living up to their name.

The night of entertainment kicked off with support from Caitlyn Eve, Addley, and Denver, who all performed with immense talent. These acts prepared the crowd for the headliners in style, giving the audience a glimpse of their signature sounds. Notably, Denver have their own headline show at Manchester Club Academy on Friday 14th November. However, in a role reversal, Splendour will be their support on this occasion, alongside Miserabilia on what is sure to be another fantastic night of music making. For more information about this upcoming gig, visit @splendour.band on Instagram, as seen below:

As for Splendour's set, they kicked off with fan favourite original 'Femme Fatale', which is one of two songs they have released and is available to listen to now on streaming services. As a fantastic opener for the band, they immediately got the crowd involved with their performance, encouraging call and response in the outro. Every member of the crowd got involved, and those who did not know the song prior to the night definitely did by the end. Continuing with their aim to involve the audience in their performance, Splendour's set featured several covers that the crowd could sing along to. These songs were cleverly dispersed amongst their unreleased originals. Notable covers include Hozier's 'Too Sweet', as well as their unique, 'reggae-style' takes on classic Oasis song 'Wonderwall' and Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain'. 

To finish their set, Splendour performed their own instrumental outro, where they once again encouraged the crowd to sing along to the tune with them. It is fair to say that everybody in the crowd would agree that Splendour endeavour to centre their performances around audience participation, which they execute effortlessly. Confidence and style radiate from the stage, and their passion and enjoyment for performing together is crystal clear. This is a key feature to Splendour's unique, unorthodox set-up as a seven-piece band, which is bound to take them to bigger stages in the future if they continue to utilise this strength so brilliantly.

Shortly before performing their final song, the band took time to talk about the community of creatives which they are key ambassadors of, 'Attic'. Attic is an incentive which developed from Splendour, who talked passionately to the crowd about how they can get involved with this new project.

As a collective which launched earlier this year, Attic is designed to help artists from all backgrounds, crafts and abilities network and collaborate with others. Splendour vocalist Nimi Owoyemi expressed that "Attic started with the aim to create a hub for artists of all capacities, because we [Splendour] realised that we are just part of the art, and there is more around us to make it work". They host regular events, and have an upcoming icebreaker event at Lost Cat in Manchester on Thursday 6th November 2025. The event will run from 6-11pm, and will involve various activities, as well as networking opportunities. Tickets are free and available here:

More information about this event, as well as Attic's past and future projects. can be found on their Instagram, @attic.creatives

24th October 2025

Article written by Lucy Thomas