Jonny, The Borderline, 27/06/11

I was at The Borderline last month to see Jonny (for the second time after seeing them at Water Rats in January). Tonight they played as a full band as opposed to earlier in the year when it was just Euros and Norman. The slightly nervous performance of the show at Water Rats had been replaced by a much more assured set this time.

I had listened to the album a fair bit in the run up to this show and love how the songs can generally be divided as Euros songs and Norman songs each bringing their own distinctive qualities to the sound. Both were on fine form throughout. Played live, many of the songs sounded even more Beatlesy and 60s inspired.

Norman introduced Waiting Around For You as being "our Revolver song done in the style of Chas & Dave”. The Goodnight saw them sound quite close to Pentangle and Cave Dance finished with a saxophone/flute outro (sadly not quite as good as the heavy pyschedelic keyboard wig-out played at Water Rats). Continental could be more Beach Boys if it arrived in the venue on a surfboar, while Candyfloss has already established itself as a power-pop classic. 

For the encore they came back on to play Ursula's Crow, When I Still Have Thee and Heywood Lane. Lovely to hear a different Teenage Fanclub song and even better to hear an old Gorky's Zygotic Mynci song (on earlier shows it seems they played Spanish Dance Troupe).

Jonny, Water Rats, 19/01/11

I made a rare visit to Water Rats in Kings Cross last week to see Jonny, the new project featuring Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub and Euros Childs formerly of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. The prospect of seeing two of my favourite music people on stage together was quite exciting...

Support came from Baltimore indie rock duo Wye Oak who played a very good short set which recalled some of the noisier moments of Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth.

Despite featuring additional members on the album tonight Jonny were just Euros on guitar/keyboards/drum machine/vocals & Norman on guitar/laptop/vocals. Euros began by introducing the band ("We are Jonny, err, without the H"). They started with 'Bread', very much a Euros Childs composition, being quite similar in style to a lot of his recent solo material (the show generally confirmed my prior belief that Jonny was a project largely led by Euros). They opted to play 'Candyfloss' early in the set. It is a brilliant, catchy song which combines their respective melodic, harmonic and lyrical talents and I would encourage you to watch the video by clicking here. They also played the album opener, 'Wich Is Wich'.

Other tracks which stood out were 'Waiting For You', which was quite old-school rock'n'roll in sound and the pretty 'I Want To Be Around You'. After listening to them on the album I found them both surprisingly Beatlesy. 'Cave Dance' was another highlight, a stomping, high tempo track which almost strays into glam-rock territory before it closes with an noisy, instrumental keyboard ending. Again, the recorded version sounds even stronger. 'The Goodnight' and 'English Lady' sounded like late period Gorky's, quite folky and melancholic, especially the latter. 'I'll Make Her My Best Friend' had a strong country feel, and ended with a nice guitar sign-off from Norman. They also played 'Gloria' and 'Michaelangelo' from the free EP.

Coming back on for the encore Norman announced they would play one of his songs, one of Euros' songs and a cover. They proceeded to play a lovely acoustic version of 'I Don't Want Control Of You' (seeing Euros provide backing vocals on a Teenage Fanclub song was a real highlight of the night). They followed this with a version of 'Ursula's Crow', a song which doesn't feature on the album but is something they have played together before. They finished with an a capella version of 'Sky Man' by Geoff Goddard.

It was pretty clear that tonight was the first gig of the tour. There were a few nerves on show and the sound was a little rough around the edges. However, the collective goodwill of the crowd seemed to carry them through, ensuring the gig was a success despite some errant drum machines, occasional problems tuning guitars and misplaced lyrics. I'm sure the shows will become more polished the longer the tour goes on.

After the show I bought a copy of the album  from Euros in the bar area (two weeks before it is released). I was hoping to be able to have a little chat, and possibly ask him if he has any plans to release 'Spin That Girl Around' (a brilliant song he has played at his solo shows but up to now has not recorded). You can see a video of him playing this at the Roundhouse here whilst supporting Yo La Tengo, (a show that I was at). Sadly I didn't get a chance to talk as people scrambled around to pick up a copy of the CD and catch a few seconds with Euros. In the end all I did was thank him for a great show. The Jonny album is very good, a lot stronger than the live show and I fully recommend it to you.

Teenage Fanclub, Electric Ballroom, 08/12/10

I was at the Electric Ballroom last night to see Teenage Fanclub. I think it was the 14^th time I was seeing them play live. The show had originally been scheduled for the Kentish Town Forum but was moved to the Electric Ballroom at a later stage. Support was from Yuck and I thought they were very good in a kind of early 90s, noisy guitar, Sonic Youth way…

It was another excellent show by Teenage Fanclub. They played a fairly ‘solid’ set containing all of the live favourites and some of the best moments from their latest album ‘Shadows’. It was good to see ‘Mellow Doubt’ restored to the set after recent omissions and ‘What You Do To Me’ also got a rare outing. I wrote in more detail earlier in the year when I saw them play at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Here are a few random thoughts that came to me on the way home:

• ‘Sweet Days Waiting’ by Gerard Love from latest album ‘Shadows’ is a very pretty and tender song indeed.
• ‘Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything’ and ‘Ain’t That Enough’ are two of Gerard’s best songs and almost seem to be musical siblings (if that is possible with songs). Lyrically they are quite similar, both finding solace and comfort in the natural world, looking beyond human relationships, beliefs etc. Heart-warming stuff.
• ‘About You’ is by far Raymond’s best song.
• The regular omitting of ‘Neil Jung’ from their live set is slightly puzzling. The opening 5 songs from ‘Grand Prix’ get played at almost every show. You would think that every now and again ‘Neil Jung’ may feature, especially as it was a single and is such a brilliant track…(I’m biased as it is one of my favourites).
• I love the audience reaction to Norman’s whistling on ‘Mellow Doubt’ and glockenspiel solo on ‘Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From’.
• I wonder when we will next hear a track from ‘Thirteen’ played live? I would love to hear ‘Radio’ or ‘The Cabbage’ again…
• Restoring ‘The Concept’ to the end of the set was a very good move and seems a lot more natural than when it has been previously played mid-set.

Here is tonight’s set list in full:

Start Again

Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything

The Past

It’s All In My Mind

Don’t Look Back

Baby Lee

Verisimilitude

Star Sign

I Don’t Want Control Of You

About You

Mellow Doubt

Ain’t That Enough

When I Still Have Thee

I Need Direction

What You Do To Me

Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From

Sparky’s Dream

The Concept

Sweet Days Waiting

Can’t Feel My Soul

Everything Flows

Teenage Fanclub, Shepherd's Bush Empire, 08/06/10

I was at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night to see Teenage Fanclub. I think it was the 13th time I have seen them. I was sitting in the front row of Level 1 with my gig buddy (and fellow Teenage Fanclub enthusiast) Jon Paul. It was a great gig, as usual. I should really say up front that they are officially my favourite band and as a result won’t really be able to give an objective ‘review’ in the usual way I would.

Before the gig I tweeted on the songs I would really like to have heard – 'Neil Jung', 'Radio', 'The Concept', 'Alcoholiday', 'Slow Fade' & 'Accidental Life' (I could have gone on if it wasn’t for the 140 character tweet limit). We only got one of those songs, but it seems a little silly to complain. Seeing them so many times does bring a strong sense of familiarity and sometimes I would like them to maybe play some different songs to those they usually play from ‘Grand Prix’ and ‘Songs From Northern Britain’ – ‘Mellow Doubt’ and ‘Neil Jung’ in particular. On a different subject, I think I should also say how much I adore ‘Slow Fade’. Would love to hear that live again. One of Norman’s best I think. Just perfect in every way. Just like ‘Sparky’s Dream’ I guess. I suddenly feel the urge to do a list of my Top 10 Teenage Fanclub tracks….

Jon Paul and myself discussed how it would be good to see them do one (or both) of these albums live as part of the Don’t Look Back series. I saw them play ‘Bandwagonesque’ a few years ago at the Kentish Town Forum which was great. I often look back to previous TFC gigs at venues like the (sadly no more) Astoria and Scala with misty-eyed nostalgia at the sheer excitement they inspired in me. I still love seeing them play live and will always continue to see them whenever they are in London but I don’t think I will ever recapture the feeling of those early gigs.

Anyway, back to the gig. I thought the sound started a little ‘foggy’ but soon improved. They did 7 songs from the new album ‘Shadows’, 5 songs from ‘Songs From Northern Britain’, 4 songs from ‘Grand Prix’ and one each from ‘Bandwagonesque’, ‘Howdy’, ‘Man-Made’ and ‘Catholic Education’. Nothing from ‘Thirteen’ unfortunately. ‘The Concept’ was the full length version and was the highlight of the show for me.

The set went like this:

Start Again

Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything

The Past

It's All In My Mind

Don't Look Back

Baby Lee

Verisimilitude

Shock and Awe

I Don't Want Control of You

About You

Sweet Days Waiting

Your Love is the Place I Come from

The Concept

Ain't That Enough

When I Still Have Thee

Sparky's Dream

Can't Feel My Soul

I Need Direction

Today Never Ends

Everything Flows

I can’t really say much more than that really. I love them (both as a band and as individual members) and their songs and their lyrics. Some really beautiful themes – love and relationships, male vulnerability, time, memories, life.

OK, here is that Top 10 Teenage Fanclub Songs that I alluded to earlier….(as always, if you asked me to do this again in a few weeks it would probably be different….and may even include some songs off ‘Shadows’)

1 ‘Sparky’s Dream’

2 ‘The Concept’

3 ‘Neil Jung’

4 ‘Slow Fade’

5 ‘Alcoholiday’

6 ‘Mellow Doubt’

7 ‘Ain’t That Enough’

8 ‘I Don’t Want Control Of You’

9 ‘Radio’
10 ‘Broken’