Arriving at the Birmingham O2 Academy, we were surprised by queues winding around the block, only to find that the venue is not only host to Twin Atlantic tonight, but also Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. There’s a marked difference in attire and style for the two crowds, but it’s really uplifting to see so many people out for live music on a frosty Sunday night in November.
Heading upstairs to Academy 2, I am instantly transported back into the gig nights of my youth. Sticky floors, a merch stand on a trestle-table in the corner with hand scribbled prices, and youths in patch jackets shuffling about. I like knowing that the tune might change but the feeling is still the same. If you don’t get that pang of excitement before a gig, I am truly sorry for you.
Daytime TV
First out of the gates is fellow Scottish band, Daytime TV – with enigmatic frontman Will Irvine practically bouncing onto the stage, in his black suit and stompy creeper shoes. Sitting somewhere in the rock/pop-punk sphere, but with a well-blended electronic sound; Daytime TV immediately pique my interest.
Songs ‘Fear’ and ‘Little Victories’ sport elements of indie alongside the clean rock edge, and it’s easy to get swept into the very singable lyrics early on. This is something I feel has been missing from mainstream rock for a while – an undeniable hook, and this band have it in spades. Yelling out “Make some noise Birmingham, thanks for coming down early to check us out tonight. This is a hometown gig for our Guitarist, he’s a Walsall boy!” Will elicits a huge cheer from the now dense crowd, before launching into the very fun ‘Domino’.
One thing I would really like to note about Daytime TV, is that they genuinely just look like they’re having a great time on stage. Dancing around, smiling and laughing through a stellar performance – closing song ‘Lost In Tokyo’ makes for a dynamic ending, and they’ve even managed to get the crowd clapping along – no easy feat for an opening band (especially on a Sunday night). I’d love to see them on some festival bills next year.
Twin Atlantic
Scotland for round two, tonight’s headliner Twin Atlantic hailing from Glasgow are preceded by the ethereal outpourings of… ahem… Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Just as the crowd is singing along (in a very Wayne’s World way, obviously) to the penultimate note, we are top-tier trolled into oblivion as the drop is interrupted by Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Boys Just Wanna Have Fun’. You’ve never heard a room full of people groan so loudly, I tell you.
As the band take to the stage in near darkness and enough smoke to power the entire Upside Down, frontman Sam McTrusty heads to the front to shout Hello to the Birmingham crowd – “Ohh it’s gonna be a good one, I can fuckin’ feel it”.
Starting off strong with ‘Meltdown’ from this year’s (their seventh) album, it’s instantly clear that tonight’s audience are not the casual gig-goer brand, these are all full force Twin Atlantic fans singing along to every word, and I’m here wondering why they haven’t been back on a Download festival bill since the Pandemic Pilot era.
Barry McKenna (keys, vocals) looking like a slightly cooler version of Nandor The Relentless (IYKYK), laughs along when Sam yells “This is our last show in your country this year we realised, so thanks for coming to the last one! So… Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!” and we are treated to the extremely Scottish twangy ‘Free’. I may not be to roll my R’s but you’re damn right I tried to join in anyway.
‘Barcelona’ is an absolute earworm of a song, it’s been on repeat on our car journeys and it’s not hard to see why – everyone is absolutely belting it out at the top of their lungs under the pulsing red lighting. I should mention here though, that it has been some of the worst lighting I’ve ever experienced in a small venue, there are no uplights on the band themselves and so much smoke that it’s hard to even see who’s on stage. Luckily the sound is banging to make up for it so we all shout back the refrain “I’m not invincible”.
“Is the the fatigue of Sunday setting in? You all good, you all where you wanna be? Sound, we’ll keep going then” they joke, before playing the gorgeously sentimental ‘I Couldn’t Miss You Much More’, as couples hug each other in the crowd. Ramping back up with ‘The Chaser’ and some intense strobe-lighting which further silhouettes the band into anonymity, and the heavier ‘No Sleep’ (my song of choice in the set) almost blows the roof off the O2. Again, I am left wondering why Twin Atlantic aren’t hitting more big festival bills.
‘Heart and Soul’ is another sing-along situation, but with minutes to spare Sam calls “Do we have time for one more?” and they sign off on the beautifully sombre ‘Crash Land’. “The last two weeks in England have been fuckin’ class” they lament, before (literally) bowing out. It might have been the smaller of tonight’s offerings at the O2 in Birmingham, but the actual Heart and Soul in tonight’s performance and the fact that this many people wanted to come out and pogo around on a Sunday night before work? Unquestionably awesome.
Setlist
- Bohemian Rhapsody (intro track)
- Meltdown
- Yes, I Was Drunk
- Get Out
- Free
- Asleep
- World Class Entertainment
- Make a Beast of Myself
- Fall
- Hold On
- Barcelona
- Sorry
- Whispers
- Human After All
- I Couldn’t Miss You Much More
- Snow In Texas
- Haunt
- Brothers & Sisters
- The Chaser
- No Sleep
- Heart and Soul
- Crash Land