The Wants

A concert by The Wants, an American band formed in New York that plays pop, rock and indie, with support from The Dirt, an Anglo-Japanese duo from Mossley, at Factory Manchester.

The Wants are an American band formed in New York, working in pop, rock and indie. Their first album, Container, came out in 2020 and is the earliest release in their recorded catalogue to date.

The Dirt, who open the bill, are an Anglo-Japanese duo from Mossley, on the Manchester side of the Pennines. Jack Horner, a spoken word artist better known on the Manchester circuit as Leon the Pig Farmer, shares the project with his wife, multi-instrumentalist Sachiko Wakizaka. Their music combines psych and shoegaze guitar loops with electronic rhythms and sharp spoken verse on mental health and politics, while Sachiko builds fuzz and feedback from a large array of pedals. Their albums Agitator (2023), Monkeypunch (2025) and An Iridescent Dream (2026) have drawn comparisons to The Fall, Suicide and Spacemen 3.

The concert takes place at Factory Manchester, a venue for concerts and performances in the city. Live, The Dirt are a DIY act with an uncompromising approach, so the evening centres on guitar-driven, text-heavy music from two bands with a strong sense of their own direction.