The Twang + guests @ Birmingham Academy – 11th September 2009

The last time that I saw The Twang was back in May 2007. It was in a room full of hot and sweaty post 25 year olds and the only real material that anyone had heard were the singles that they had released. More than two years down the line and two albums on I was really looking forward to seeing how far they had developed, and I certainly was not disappointed.

I was lucky enough to be one of the people at the opening night of the new O2 Academy last night and I was expecting it to launch with a bang, unfortunately as musically good as the Editors were it seemed to lack something. As amazing as the new venue was there was just something about the night that just didn’t quite give over a buzz, so I was hoping that tonight was going to change all of that.

I wasn’t too sure how the night would work, and if it would work in all honesty. 10 bands playing in three rooms and 2500 people spread over the whole venue until the Twang hit the stage at 9:45. Even when walking into the venue there was an atmosphere that something good was going to happen tonight.

When we arrived there was a fairly young band on stage – The Traps. They were a very energetic bunch of guys playing an eclectic blend of indie rock and roll to an audience of about 50 people. They had a nice bunch of tunes, nothing that really blew your mind away but some good indie rock to start the night off. The main thing was you could clearly see that they were really enjoying themselves whilst on stage.

After they finished we decided to go for a bit of a wander around just to see what other bands were playing. Our walkabout landed us in the Academy 2 and another band, The Skyline, who were playing to one man and his dog (well really 11 people including us but you get the picture) Something about them kept me watching though. I think you could describe their songs as electro indie with a bit of a twist. The great thing was that even though they had so few people in the room they kept going with enthusiasm, one of they great quotes from the lead singer during the set was “this song’s a week old and makes you wanna dance — well it makes me want to dance anyway”

We continued on our tour — nobody seemed to be playing in the Academy 3 and I couldn’t seem to find a schedule for the night either. I asked someone who was playing and all they could tell me was that Templeton Pek were the headline act for the room.

Next up it was back to the main room for Scarlet Harlots. I remembered them from last years Orange Unsigned shows and from the moment they took to the stage you could tell it was time for something less generic indie and more in your face. They had a bit of a Maccabees meets Jamie T meets old school Ska about their sound. The lead singer had an air of confidence about him particularly in the fact that he had turned up in tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt due to the fact that he had lost his keys and his mum was on holiday. They were excellent to watch and even got the crowd going in parts. My personal favourite of the set was the cover of Montell Jordan’s “This is how we do it”. Very impressed!

We decided to stay in the main room from this point on. Next up we had Blak Can, who came on, they started, then they stopped, then they started again, then they stopped and walked off stage amidst a mass of boos. It turned out that there was a problem with the synths. They came back on after about 10mins and it was good to see that the lead singer still had a sense of humour saying before they started “I think we’ve got time for one more”. However by this time the crowd were no longer in the mood and their songs just didn’t hit the spot at all.

And so on to the main event. Tonight’s crowd was very different to last nights; that was for sure. It was a much older audience compared to a lot of the gigs that I go to. This was clearly evident when The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” came on and everyone knew the words to it. They were also a much more riotous and excitable crowd who had clearly come out tonight to dance and have a good time. Even before the band were anywhere close to the stage there were pint glasses flying around and people chanting and singing along to one of the lines from “You Took The Fun” off The Twang’s new album. Potentially some people may have felt intimidated by some of the audience, and I know that the security had some fun and games on the balcony with people who really didn’t want to sit down.

From the moment that the band took to the stage the atmosphere in the venue was absolutely electric. They opened with “You Took The Fun” and (I think) to help their friends Blak Can out they started and stopped to get a barrage of abuse just so that Phil Etheridge could say “Who the fuck you booin’ at?” Then bang the venue erupted into song! The great thing about tonight was the sense of belonging. This was a band that were born and bred in Birmingham and they had a clear sense of pride about it too. After following their opener with Twang Fan favourite Ice Cream Sundae Phil said “Birmingham thanks for coming man, it’s great to be here” and they launched into two tracks from their new album. As I said this crowd was here for a good time and I am sure many of them left with no voice left at all, Phil could sense this but he wanted to “hear you at the back, the cool kids” and he got what he wished for by playing “Either Way”. This song had a nice little twist with him singing “You know what Birmingham I think I love ya” as part of the song.

We then had a mixture of old and new tracks from “Push the Ghost” to current single “Barney Rubble”, followed by “Two Lovers” and from the new album “Encouraging Sign” which everyone sang “quickstep over the rooftops to get into your house”. There was a complete sense of fulfilment from everyone tonight but most especially from the band themselves. You could tell that they loved every single minute of it. Following Encouraging Sign Phil told the crowd how much it meant to the band by saying “we haven’t played this song in ages” and they went into “Got Me Sussed”. The band showed a genuine love and admiration for the crowd, the other bands that played tonight, and what they were doing with everything they said. They ended the main part of their set with the awesome “Wide Awake”. But this was definitely not the end.

The crowd demanded an encore of course with continued chanting from You Took the Fun. The band came out, Phil said, “thanks for stayin” and they kicked off again with “Another Bus”. There was a distinct element of a football type crowd about tonight and this became even more evident when Phil took off one of his shirts to display the Aston Villa home shirt which got a very mixed reaction from the whole venue; perhaps not the best thing to do on derby weekend, but this was short lived when the band went into “The Neighbour”. Towards the end of the song he threw the shirt into the crowd and when it finished told the crowd how his “best friend in the world’s a Blues fan”

The end of the night was fast approaching but not until the Twang had a bit more fun with the crowd with their last song. You could easily tell that they had loved tonight, even when they thanked the crowd for the final time before launching into “Cloudy Room” but it wasn’t long before they stopped and demanded that the crowd should bounce more as it was their “last chance to dance”. They started again only to then stop once again wanting more from the crowd shouting “What’s goin on Birmingham?!” Finally they played the song in full with the whole of the venue on their feet dancing.

When you are into your music as much as I am you are bound to like some bands that other people highly criticise or mock and for some reason the Twang are one of those bands. However if any of my friends, colleagues or critics had been at this gig then they would have been a part of an absolutely electric atmosphere which was second to none and even they would not have been able to stop themselves from dancing. On Friday the 11th September the O2 Academy truly opened to the folk of Birmingham.

Bands that played tonight
O2 Academy
The Traps
Scarlet Harlots
Blak Can
The Twang

O2 Academy 2
Tantrums
The Skyline
Subkicks
Misty’s Big Adventure

O2 Academy 3
Some bands and then
Octane OK
Templeton Pek

Set List
You Took The Fun
Ice Cream Sundae
Back Where We Started
Put It On The Dancefloor
Either Way
Got No Interest
Push The Ghost
Answer My Call
Barney Rubble
Two Lovers
Encouraging Sign
Got Me Sussed
Wide Awake

Encore
Another Bus
The Neighbour
Cloudy Room

Review – Imran Khan

Photos – Katja Ogrin

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