The first band that we see are from Scotland and have jangly guitars but it’s not Teenage Fanclub, it’s fellow Glaswegians Spinning Coin. I saw them earlier in the year at the Nottingham Pop All-Dayer at The Maze and while they were good, their lead guitarist was a bit too busy. It’s the same at Rock City and their best songs are when he takes the lead vocals and there is less guitar noodling.
Teenage Fanclub open with Start Again from 1997’s Songs From Northern Britain. From there we are taken on a 23 song tour of their entire career. As expected the set list leans very heavily on the new album, with six tracks from Here, but also contains nearly all of their hits. The band sound as good as you’d expect from one that have been playing together for so many years but it’s incredible to see just how excited that Norman Blake still gets on stage.
The newer songs fit in perfectly with the more recent, mellower songs but it’s the older songs that the audience really react to. Verisimilitude and Don’t Look Back, both from 1995’s Grand Prix, get played back-to-back and the crowd absolutely love it.
Just as with the song writing on their albums, the lead vocals are shared out between Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley. Regardless of who is singing lead, the backing harmonies are always pitch perfect. Blake changes guitar after almost every song and at one point he knocks out his cable, telling us that “that mistake is just for you”
Highlights of the night would be dependent on what you favourite Fanclub album is (unless you like Thirteen, in which case you’re out of luck) However, I thought that Your Love Is The Place That I Come From (Songs From Northern Britain), I Need Direction (Howdy!) and I’m In Love (new album Here) all sound absolutely brilliant.
The biggest cheers of the night are reserved for the two songs that close the set – Sparky’s Dream and The Concept. The opening track from Bandwagonesque is extended into a proper rocking number and the crowd verge on going wild (this is a Teenage Fanclub audience after all, many of us are too old to go properly wild anymore) Hearing it live, you can really see why Kurt Cobain was such a fan of the band.
During the mandatory five minute wait for the encore to start, there are a few confused looks going round as to what songs they might play when they come back on since they ended with those two. Another Bandwagonesque track, Star Sign opens the encore but they lose a bit of momentum by playing a new track, With You and Easy Come Easy Go, a Go Betweens’ cover.
They rescue things as they end the night by playing their first ever single, Everything Flows. Despite being released in 1990, it still sounds fresh and is a really great end to the evening. Everyone leaves the gig grinning like an idiot, testimony to just how good a band Teenage Fanclub are.
By Gav Squires
@GavSquires
