I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 15, 2019] Teenage Fanclub

I’ve been a fan of Teenage Fanclub since I heard “The Concept” back in 1991.  The band has changed (and mellowed) a lot since then (they had long hair, they had hair, and they could have been teenagers, maybe), but they still write gorgeous harmony-filled, pop-rock songs.  I had never seen them live (I’d heard that in their early days their live shows were tempestuous and insane).

Last year when bassist Gerald Love retired (amicably) from the band, I assumed they were done.  Love wrote a little more than 1/3 of the songs (Norman Blake wrote a lot and Raymond McGinley wrote a bit less) and he wrote some of their catchiest songs.

So I was surprised and delighted that they announced an American tour and they were coming into Philly to Union Transfer.  I knew they wouldn’t play any of Love’s songs, but I also knew that they had a whole bunch of songs that the other two guys wrote that I really loved.

They came out on stage and proceeded to play at least one song from every album (except The King, an album I’m not familiar with, although I see that it was deleted on its day of release in 1991).  And it was like hit after hit (I guess if you’ve been around for thirty years, you can amass a pretty big collection of catchy songs).  Their most recent album was 2016’s here and they played two songs from that, but the bulk of the night came from 1997’s Songs from Northern Britain.   Norman Blake sang most of the songs, but there were plenty (7 of 19) songs which McGinley took lead vocals on.

I’m terrible with song titles, so I never really know which songs are which and I am really bad about knowing who sings what.

So when they opened with “About You,” as song I recognized from Grand Prix, both Blake and McGinley sang the opening harmonies.  And then McGinley took over lead vocals (his voice is very different from Blake’s I now notice).  They sounded great–voices in great shape and golden harmonies.

Gerard Love played bass so they had a new bassist (who I pretty much ignored, sorry) and then Blake announced that they had an extra performer with them on this tour.  And I couldn’t believe when he said it was Euros Childs from Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, a Welsh band that I love and saw back in 2000.  It was great to see him again, he looked ageless and his voice was outstanding.  It seems that Love contributed a lot of the great backing vocals to and Childs filled in, especially on the higher songs.  He also played keys.  The first song they played as a five piece was “Start Again.”  Childs also had a brief moment of spotlight when he played the piano outro to “Only With You.”

It was fun hearing Blake’s Scottish accent as he told us about the songs and which album they came from .  It was also cool hearing t hat they have a new song “Everything is Falling Apart” which is just as catchy as the rest of them.

Most of their new songs are mellowish and poppy.  But their earlier songs were fueled with distortion.  So it was pretty cool to have them dig back to their debut for “Catholic Education.”  They may look button down and not like teenagers, but they could still rock out.  Blake made a joke that after the show you could find them in the Cracker Barrel at the over 55 menu.  “See that, if you stick with this business long enough, you can make some money.”

In the middle of the set, Blake and McGinley switched back and forth between songs, which was really fun.  Even though Blake’s song are catchier, there’s something about McGinley’s delivery that makes them stick with me a bit more.  Although there’s no denying that “Your Love is the Place Where I Come From” is super catchy.  Blake also told us that McGinley would be introducing the wah wah pedal on “It’s a Bad World” and he proceeded to play a pretty great solo.

Blake introduced “Planets” which he said that drummer Francis MacDonald co-wrote and one which he co-sang lead.

Blake occasionally switched to acoustic guitar (and glockenspeil on “Your Love is the Place….”

They ended the set with the wonderful recent song “My Uptight Life.”  I love the harmonies at the end.  And then the started up with the song I was so excited to hear: “The Concept.”  “The Concept” is 7 minutes long.  The first half is a pretty song and the second half is a jamming guitar solo section.  It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

They left for an encore break and then came back for three more songs.  I had forgotten how much I love “What You Do to Me” a stupidly catchy song with something like 21 words in it.  And then they ended the show with a scorching “Everything Flows.”  I vaguely recalled that this was what they always ended with (at least in the 90s) and it turned into a mind-bending, noise-filled jam.  I recently watched a show of theirs from 1992 and while they definitely did a lot more noise back then, watching both guitarists wailing and feedbacking was an awesome ending to the this long-awaited show.

Sure, it would have been better with Gerard Love singing “Sparky’s Dream” or “Hang On” or “Ain’t That Enough,” it was wonderful hearing so many great songs that Blake and McGinley wrote.  It’s such a shame that this immensely talented band was more or less a one-hit wonder in the States for a song that doesn’t really sound like what they’ve been doing for the last twenty-some years.

SETLIST

1. About You ‰
2. Start Again ⊗
3. The Cabbage ξ
4. Everything Is Falling Apart [new]
5. Only With You ϖ
6. Catholic Education †
7. Alcoholiday £
8. The Darkest Part of the Night ⇓
9. Your Love Is the Place Where I Come From ⊗
10. Planets ⊗
11. Verisimilitude ‰
12. I Don’t Want Control of You ⊗
13. It’s a Bad World ⊗
14. I’m in Love ⇓
15. My Uptight Life !
16. The Concept £
    encore
17. The Fall ♦
18. What You Do to Me £
19. Everything Flows †

† A Catholic Education (1990)
£ Bandwagonesque (1991)
ξ Thirteen (1993)
‰ Grand Prix (1995)
⊗ Songs from Northern Britain (1997)
! Howdy! (2000)
ϖ Man-Made (2005)
♦ Shadows (2010)
⇓ Here (2016)