The Twang Live Review @ Electric Ballroom (Camden) - 05 Oct 2011

The Twang

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Live Review

Say what you like about The Twang, but even their harshest critic would have to admit the Brummie boys can put on a show and take command of an audience like few others. It's been a fairly quiet couple of years, product-wise (bar the release of the 'Guapa' EP) and live, but the fans they still have in plenty, and those who had packed out the Electric Ballroom tonight were witness to the fact that The Twang have lost none of their appeal.

A 13-song set blasted older material from their two albums, interspersed with the more recent. As per usual, crowds had massed at the front and were sending up chants and calls long before the band took to the stage. Interestingly, tonight's audience appeared a somewhat older, more middle-class one than may have been seen at their shows in the early days. A sign not just that their fans have grown-up, but perhaps also indicative that The Twang themselves have progressed and matured with life experiences such as marriage and child-rearing: the latter accounting for the paternity-leave of bassist Jon Watkin this tour and temporary replacement by the Fratellis' Baz, who it would appear has settled in with ease over the course of the shows so far.

Standing out front, vocalist Phil Etheridge takes on the mantle of 'King of the Electric', reigning over those he surveys in front of him. "London, I wanna see you bouncing", he exhorts - and that they did. Wearing fetching deerstalker hat, he proceeded to whip up the crowd with opening number 'Took The Fun' and from there, there is no let-up in pace. 'Barney Rubble', 'Ice Cream Sundae', 'Back Where We Started' bring forth a sea of arms held aloft, bobbing heads and popping bodies and singalongs that echo around the room; while 'the chorus line of 'Got Me Sussed' ('and I wanna be hearing the sound of your voice...') is handed over to the audience at one point, who carry it on, word-perfect. Not surprisingly it is met with the approval of 'King' Phil who later encourages people to give themselves a round of applause.

The twin Twang anthems, 'Either Way' and 'Wide Awake' and the final encore of the ubiquitous 'Cloudy Room', leave no-one unmoved. From start to finish, The Twang looked like this was a night they were clearly up for 'havin it'. So were the crowd. Neither could have been disappointed. A Twang show may always resemble something akin to a cross between a football match and a lads' night out, but it's always a good-humoured, fun experience. With a new self-produced album on the cards for release early next year, together with their present tour (with a number of shows sold out weeks in advance) running through October, it would be a very foolish person indeed who would dare to write The Twang off. The boys look like they are well and truly back.