Love It When They Play Like This – The Twang take over Islington

The Twang – O2 Academy, Islington – Friday 30th March.

Things are looking good for The Twang

I was hoping for a glorious return to London for the brummy lads, however I was prepared for a lukewarm outing due to the lack of activity surrounding their releases in recent years.

I should have had more faith, from the opening chords of Barney Rubble, both the band and the crowd were up for it. As they launched into You Took The Fun, the crowd launched themselves at the stage. The security staff, who possibly thought they were going to be in for quiet night too, were to be disappointed as wave after wave of fans hurled themselves at the band.

That set the theme for the entire gig, more songs from The Twang’s 2009 album, The Jewellery Quarter, appeared on the setlist than those from their debut; Love It When I Feel Like This.  The crowd were not put off, far from it, infact every song was a singalong of anthemic proportions, it seemed the band could do no wrong - even new singles Paradise and We’re A Crowd seemed to be firm favourites already.

Wide Awake and Either Way still sounded as fresh as they did the first time I heard them – which was only 5 years ago, but they seem like old classics of the indie scene already.  A surprising mosh pit initiator turned out to be Guapa, from the 2011 EP of the same name, when the chorus dropped the crowd went bizerk. The slow build up during the verse and bridge only fuelled the frenzy. This will clearly be a live favourite for years to come.

The gig ended the only way it really could, with Cloudy Room – it conjured up memories of playing the album on repeat and took me back to days when my only responsibilities were to make sure I had a good time on a Friday and Saturday night.  The crowd peaked, but the band could have kept playing all night and they would have been more than happy to keep bopping along.

Ruined trainers and bruised bones were well worth it, The Twang had pulled off a triumphant return to the capital, it’s an even bigger achievement when you consider the new album (10:20) is yet to be released – if this was a warm up I can’t wait for the main event.

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