Teenage Fanclub
Bowery Ballroom, New York (July 13, 2001)
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Teenage Fanclub
Bowery Ballroom, New York
July 13, 2001 |
The four-piece Fanclub was augmented by an occasional keyboardist/percussionist, but for the most part, the show was focused on the songs. Not that the 12-year-old band doesn't boast some great musicianship, but the prime draw is the finely tuned pop songwriting skills of bassist Gerard Love and guitarists Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley.
Each of these three kind Scotsmen is a formidable pop songwriting talent a la Rod Argent, Paul McCartney, or Damon Albarn. With six albums under the Fanclub's belt, each has numerous gems with which to carry a rock show, and the group distributes the spotlight evenly. Each songwriter sings lead on his tunes, and Friday night's first three songs were "Start Again," "Radio" and "Verisimilitude": Blake, Love and McGinley songs, respectively.
Now, though they rock out convincingly on record (see Bandwagonesque), this is not the type of group to blow concertgoers away with rawk power. Since I wasn't really expecting as much out of the group, and more looking forward to witnessing their melodic powers at work, the gig was a pleasant experience. The Fanclub pulled out four tunes from their most recent album, Howdy!, which went completely ignored by U.S. labels, but in front of a grateful Stateside crowd, unabashedly played a medley of past 'hits' and more obscure chestnuts like b-sides "Broken" and "Some People Try To Fuck With You."
Out came "Alcoholiday" and "Metal Baby" from Bandwagonesque, "Everything Flows" from their debut A Catholic Education, "Neil Jung," "Don't Look Back" and "Sparky's Dream," from Grand Prix, and a number of sparklers from 1997's Songs From Northern Britain. The biggest trip of the night was probably just seeing so many people singing along or lip-synching the lyrics to songs I had always thought I 'owned.' So few of my friends have actually bought my insistence that the Fanclub are one of the best pop groups around, it was refreshing to see that the band still has an appreciative fanbase in areas far from its homeland.
In fact, the only sore spot I could find in the Fannies' set is that they are such a perfectionist group, their sound can only lose a few points in the translation to live show. Does something like "Alcoholiday" sound as carefree, as dazing, as it does on album? Not exactly, when they refuse to recreate some of its memorable verse harmonies ten years on. But the crowd was appreciative of the effort, and a good time was had by all.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.