Oh, what a difference the Radio 1 playlist makes. It's surprising to
think it in this super-selective day and age, where new music is
available at the touch of a button and we can filter any tracks, artists
and genres we don't like out of our lives for good, but the airwaves
still hold significant sway over the success of our much-loved bands.
Get a track A-listed on a major radio station and suddenly, it's
everywhere; not only are the musos blasting it through their over-sized
headphones on the way to Rough Trade, but now 'the man in the street',
the one who 'likes a bit of everything', is whistling it on his way to
work and, even more importantly than that, the teenyboppers have taken
it to their hearts and plastered posters of the lead singer all over
their bedroom walls. Glasgow's Twin Atlantic have recently had the good
fortune to discover all of this (working in tandem with a support slot
on Blink 182's arena tour which will undoubtedly have helped matters),
and now, instead of playing in shoeboxes to 100 or so sweat-drenched
devotees, they're selling out Academy venues across the country and
receiving singalongs the likes of which would've made Liam Gallagher
jealous in Oasis's heyday.
It's a heart-warming experience to see a
band who have slugged their guts out over the last few years get
rewarded for their hard work with such a raucous reception as they
receive tonight. In a set that's 20 songs in length, which is, in
itself, highly commendable for a band with one full-length, one
mini-album and an EP, there's nary a moment's silence; the crowd bellows
back every last word of each of the 12 tracks from 'Free' and, during
the lesser-known 'Vivarium' songs, the majority continue to slam
face-first into one another, forming moshpits galore and occasionally
diving stagewards with reckless abandon.
Twin Atlantic seem
genuinely bemused by all of this activity; while their fanbase has been
steadily growing in Scotland for some time, this is the first English
show they've played to such a large, adoring crowd, and it shows. Sam
plays off the audience's seemingly endless energy throughout, slaying
his guitar from the onset (he breaks one set of strings during the first
song, a blistering 'Time for You to Stand Up') and flitting around the
stage constantly; one moment, he's on his knees, unleashing a filthy
riff on us, the next, he's atop the drumkit, throwing triumphant poses.
And of course, at show's end, following an almighty 'Make A Beast of
Myself' (complete with giant balloons! Who doesn't love giant
balloons?!), he's in the crowd, having completed a successful dive from
the stage, and is shaking all of our hands and lapping up the adoration.
All
of this may be an altogether different experience to previous Twin
Atlantic shows in Newcastle - Academy 2 last year and the phenomenally
manic, sweaty Digital show in 2010 - but it is no less spine-tingling.
'Lightspeed' still sounds gigantic, 'Yes, I Was Drunk' is effortlessly
epic, 'What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?' threatens to tear all of our
faces off and the mudhole being stomped in the Academy floor during 'The
Ghost of Eddie' causes several concerned looks to spread over the faces
of the poor, helpless security staff. Inevitably, though, it's 'Crash
Land' that provides the evening's most memorable moment, thanks to a
beautiful chorus of voices from the crowd which prompt Sam to keep
silent for over 50% of the song. It's testament to just how far they've
come in the last 18 months and frankly, it's fucking fantastic.
There
are plenty other moments we could mention - the tender reworking of
'You're Turning Into John Wayne', the monstrous 'Free', 'A Guidance
From Colour'! - but frankly, we're running out of space. Suffice to say,
Twin Atlantic were on fire tonight, playing off an energetic,
adrenalin-fueled crowd to provide one beast of a show. If this is what
Radio 1 playlisting can do for the band, then get the entire album on
there pronto. Just, let's leave Charlie Simpson at home next time, all
right guys? Sorted.
No comments:
Post a Comment