Live Review: Lost Society – Star & Garter, Manchester
10th March 2026
Support: Awake Again
Words: Matthew Williams
Header Photo: Tim Finch
Having reviewed Lost Society’s latest album “Hell is a State of Mind” and pronounced it as being utterly bonkers and utterly brilliant, I was intrigued about the prospect of seeing them live. A quick trip up the M6 to Manchester’s own House of Doom, I walked up the wooden steps of The Star and Garter for some Tuesday night mayhem.
As part of the album launch tour, Lost Society brought along fellow Finnish metallers, Awake Again, for their first ever full European run outside of their homeland. The four piece looked a bit crammed on the tiny stage, mainly due to the size of the drums belonging to Lost Society’s Tapani Fagerstrom, which are probably the largest I’ve seen on that stage.
With drummer Petteri Horn tucked away in the corner, they open with “River” and straight away, you can see that vocalist Matti Osterman is vying with Dave Grohl for the Most Likeable Person in Rock title, as his demeanour and pleasant chat is infectious. He gets the crowd fired up with plenty of clap along moments as guitarist Maron Lahdenpera drops a range of mighty riffs and solos, with lots of different tempos. “Manchester, are you awake?” asks a constantly smiling Matti, before they play “Violins”, with Maron, and man mountain bassist Ville Loukola, adding their vocal weight for a more impressive sound.
After asking what day it is today, they proceed with “Saturday Night (I Am Alive)” and it has a real party edge, with great drum and bass sections, a bit of techno and more importantly, some cowbell!! I was confused when Osterman asked everyone what their favourite animal was, but all was apparent as they kicked into “Even the Dead Fish can swim Upstream” which had a distinctly Eurovision sound to it, with some cool synths and a tidy bit of bass from Loukola.
The solemn and sombre “Soil” was dedicated to the recent loss of Osterman’s grandad before it livens up with a great solo. The marching sounds accompanied by a cleaner vocal lead into the more sinister “Enemy” and we are properly warmed up with plenty of crowd participation on the excellent “Shitwreck”. In his best Mancunian accent, the frontman proclaims “that was fuckin’ mental” as they leave us with the fast and frenzied “Parasite” to end a thoroughly enjoyable set, and the frontman ends it as he begins, with a beaming smile.
With The Prodigy’s “Firestarter blasting through the PA, it switches to Lost Society‘s intro and the quartet, 3 of whom are dressed in white pvc outfits, with vocalist/guitarist Samy Elbanna in black, enter the stage go straight into “Afterlife”. The snare sound is quite something, and as the frontman shouts, “Manchester, it’s time to wake the fuck up” they launch into “Blood Diamond” the second track off their new album and start to tear it up with cool riffs and solos.
“Let’s have some fun tonight Manchester” as heads start to bang along to the excellent “Blood on Your Hands”, which has a great tempo about it, and has a brilliant breakdown, which proceeds “112”. They have a lot of groove going on in their music, and it combines so well with the thrashier elements. The wonderfully catchy “Underneath” is pure theatre and it’s clear that Elbanna has a certain presence about him, and you know that he would be equally at home in an arena as he is here. They have several clap along sections, and he asks the crowd to “get rowdy as Bristol are kicking your ass right now”.
They play along to a click track on several songs, and it was this which intrigued me about their latest album, particularly the superb “Dead People Scare Me (But the Living Make me Sick)” which sounded fabulous live, as it’s immensely catchy and full of groovy tempos. An elongated solo welcomes “I Am the Antidote” adding some menace to the evening, with a range of brooding solos which gets the crowd moving. “We’re gonna continue the 2016 stuff going, as this is called Riot” and it’s a ripper of a track. It sounds dated in parts compared to their newer stuff, but it shows how far the band have evolved over the past 10 years.
Elbanna dedicates “Is This What You Wanted” to anyone that been away from home for long periods and missing people and the piano track feels emotional alongside more hard-hitting drums from Fagerstrom. We have a blast from the past with the thrashy “Non-Believer” before we go back to something “really fast” with “KILL (Those who oppose Me). It’s a cracking song, full of ferocity and pace which continues into the brutishly killer “N.W.L.”.
The ballad esque “Into Eternity” emerges before another new one “Kill The Light”, which is musically and vocally right up there with one of the best of the evening. I enjoy the dual solos that Elbanna and Arttu Lesonen play alongside each other, and before “No Absolution” Elbanna tells us that “we’ve played more shows outside of Finland in the UK than anywhere else” and gets a huge cheer.
“We’ve got two more then we are done, this is the title track off the new album called Hell is a State of Mind” and with the synth backing adding more punch, it’s a dramatic, powerful song, with more huge drums and pounding bass. They end with “Awake” and the crowd are moving, hair thrashing wildly, to end an extremely fun Tuesday night in Manchester.
