TEENAGE FANCLUB | LIVE REVIEW
Glee Club, Cardiff Bay, Sun 27 Nov
Every music fan has one. The much loved song they have somehow never heard live. The tune that, if they just could hear it performed once, would complete the setlist bucket list. In truth, I’ve about a dozen, but at the top of the pile sat Teenage Fanclub’s epic 1991 single, The Concept. Six minutes of wistful heartache and poignant, incandescent melody.
And so it is that, on a night cold enough to chill the warmest of bones, at the end of a month with enough bad news to sink the hardest of hearts, I make my way to Cardiff Bay in search of bittersweet rock magic. After 30 years of occupying the place where breezy Scottish indie meets windswept Californian pop, you expect the Fannies, as they are affectionately known, to simply walk on stage and blow the crowd away.
Looking less like hardened rock veterans than helpful library staff, the band take to the stage with smiles befitting men about to perform with a three-foot Glee logo behind them. However, hampered by poor acoustics, the sweet melodies the band has made their trademark initially fall flat.
In keeping with the band’s democratic tradition, each of the band’s three songwriters gets a chance to shine. Blake’s gorgeous I Don’t Want Control Of You is a highlight as is Love’s astonishing I Have Nothing More To Say. Songs such as My Uptight Life and The Darkest Part Of The Night see a sombre mood settle upon the crowd, clearly in need of warmth and cheer.
Eventually, as old favourites emerge from the fog, the mood lifts. Ain’t That Enough signals a polite stampede from the bar. I’m In Love keeps the mood giddy, Sparky’s Dream sends it soaring and finally, your correspondent’s dreams are realised. Grown men around me stand with tears streaming down their cheeks as Blake’s tale of a denim-clad Quo fan rings around the room. A sugary sweet cocktail of guitar histrionics and wordless harmonising sends much of the crowd rushing for the last bus home, insulated against the frozen night, denim or no denim.
words PAUL JENKINS