Midway through this gig, a chap emerged from the gents beaming and yelling. “What a band! I love this band!”
Quite the review. And quite right.
I don’t think I’ve ever come out of a gig so unexpectedly buzzing and happy as I did.
I’d first seen Turin Brakes as an acoustic duo support act in the early 2000s. I’d heard so little of the last nine albums that I’d almost forgotten how brilliant they are to see and hear live. Despite this, and an early hit or two, Turin Brakes are perennial also-rans who arguably should have the fame of Ed Sheeran.
Former Balham choirboys Olly Knights (vocals, acoustic) and Gale Paridjanian (all types of guitar) of the original two are joined by now-regulars Eddy Myers (bass) and Rob Allum (drums). On-stage they are a tight unit, exuding friendship and exhibiting tremendous musical craft.
The gig itself featured a lot of their 2022 album Wide-Eyed Nowhere and almost uniquely the unfamiliar new material did not jar with the audience vibe.
Opening with the lockdown-inspired opener “Isolation” which has a Dire Straits-ish quality to it with Paridjanian’s guitar virtuosity immediately on show as a tonal counterpoint to Knights’ downbeat vocal.
Almost immediately the band demanded audience participation, with the crowd joining in for the “la la la”s of the chorus of another new song “Up For Grabs”.
Live, Knights’ voice has an incredible soaring quality that can be lost in production of studio albums. It’s an evident difference of hearing a band live and I found myself nodding along to mid-gig de-rigeur cri-de-coeur spoken interlude about live music by the bassist.
Similarly Paridjanian’s slide acoustic guitar work on “Future Boy”, was faultless in its live brilliance. Moments later he poured out heavy blues riffs on an electric. Just superb.
In a night of surprises, the stand-out tracks of the night were unlikely: “The Door” from the debut Optimist LP and 2007’s “Last Chance”. Huge were also huge whoops of delight for the intro to 2004’s “Fishing For A Dream”.
Turin Brakes return with UK dates in May – you’d be doing yourself a disservice not to check them out.
Support came from Une, featuring former Shirehorses drummer Mark Radcliffe as a two-piece industrial electronic band (the name an inevitable pun on the group “Neu!”).
Elecrodronerock fun ensued with sounds ranging from Kraftwerk to Beck to Underground’s “Born Slippy”.Keep up the hard work lads and you might end up on the radio.
Words and pictures by Rob Finch
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