Twin Atlantic @ O2 Academy, Birmingham – Saturday 3rd November 2012
Another night, another gig, tonight its the turn of those lovely Scottish lads in Twin Atlantic as they headline the O2 Academy. Joining them on the bill is Mr Charlie Simpson, with Fightstar officially on hiatus Charlie has changed direction slightly going for a folk-rock sound with his latest solo album ‘Young Pilgrim’. Now no slight on the guy he can obviously sing and his vocal delivery is pretty unique but it wasn’t exactly the most exciting set I’ve ever seen. The set highlight was definitely ‘Parachutes’ which got the best reaction from the crowd who were obviously just waiting for the main event.
Twin Atlantic are still to take to the stage but its obvious the crowd are ready and raring to go as they sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody as it blasts out of the PA, there is definitely a party atmosphere in the Academy tonight and things only get more raucous as the evening goes on.
Twin Atlantic have worked their butts off to be in the position they are in tonight, playing to a near-sold out crowd is a testament to their hard work and the brilliant album they put out last year. Kicking things off with ‘Time For You To Stand Up’, Twin Atlantic burst on to the stage full of energy and the crowd surges forward in anticipation. The Scottish boys are on top form this evening playing a varied set list covering both albums ‘Free’ and ‘Vivarium’ plus a couple of b-sides thrown in for good measure. There is a lot of love in the room for the band tonight and the massive sing-along songs like ‘Lightspeed’ and ‘What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?’ go down very well. Its always refreshing to hear bands sing with their local accent rather then a pseudo American one and Sam McTrusty’s strong Scottish accent makes their songs stand out even more and its always fun to hear Brummies put on a Scottish accent when singing along!
Its hard to keep the momentum up though and Twin Atlantic do suffer a slight mid-set dip as some of the older songs don’t quite get the best crowd reaction. That being said the show has its moments of pure brilliance, closing the main set with the song that sound-tracked a defining moment in history was one of them. When the first notes of ‘Free’ rang out its safe to say the crowd who up to this part had been pretty vocal went a whole other level screaming back every word at Sam McTrusty and co. Now following that with a Beatles cover seemed slightly strange as McTrusty and Barry, complete with cello took to the stage slowing things down considerably. The 3 tracks that followed that though increased the energy in the room exponentially and as huge balloons rained down from the balcony above and the whole crowd united as one belting out the words to ‘Make a Beast of Myself’ it was something a little bit special. Twin Atlantic have definitely broken the Birmingham curse and their future looks so promising and they couldn’t deserve it more.
Review by Hannah Sebestjanowicz
Photographs by Katja Ogrin