ISA & THE FILTHY TONGUES / TV21
/
V FOR VICTORY / WE WERE PROMISED
JETPACKS
Edinburgh, The Swamp - Saturday 20th May 2006
Four non-blondes
OK, after three gigs, the TV21 honeymoon is over. In no uncertain terms. Because this show demonstrates that TV21 are lacking in one critical area - dancing blondes!
Never in all my years of gig going have I been spontaneously asked to dance by an attractive blonde. But I was during the Isa & The Filthy Tongues set. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm under no illusions that the request resulted from anything other than proximity - being the closest male at the front to an enthusiastic group of young women enjoying the band. But, still, it DIDN'T happen during TV21, you know?
My need to resort though to flippancy as an intro to this review of TV21's third show since reforming illustrates that, without repeating myself, I'm running out of things to say about them already.
Because they're great - still. In fact this is probably the tightest of the shows to date and probably the most confident as well. And they play with lots of enthusiasm - still. And it still seems like a lot of fun.
If you've seen them in the last 6 months or so, you know this already. So what's different about this show?
They play a much shorter set than last time but manage to keep all the highlights of previous shows - 'It's Me', 'Less Than Zero', 'Snakes and Ladders' and of course, 'On The Run'. Not-a-TV21-song-but-it-is-now 'Swimming' is blistering and they even find time to give 'It Feels Like It's Starting To Rain' its 21st century debut. It's a nice counterpoint to some of the faster material.
Visually the sight of Neil taking to the stage with shades propped up is a bit odd. Although not as odd as the fact that he wore them properly only for 'Rain.' What was that all about?
OK, I think that last para proves I've nothing more to say on this one. The only downside was the lack of dancing blondes. Did I mention that, before?
Which brings me nicely onto the rest of the evening's proceedings. Even though I was there principally for TV21, I'm always open to seeing other bands and this turned out to be a great bill.
I'd barely heard of headliners Isa & The Filthy Tongues prior to the show, never mind the Goodbye Mr Mackenzie connection, but they were excellent. I guess the closest acts that I can lazily lump them with are PJ Harvey and Sons and Daughters, they've got a similar swamp rock kind of vibe going on with a bit of Pixies thrown in.
The first three songs provide a gradual intro to proceedings. They start with an instrumental and whilst I'm always a sucker for decent instrumentals this one grabs me right from the off. But puzzlingly there's a huge gap on stage between Martin Metcalfe and bassist Fin Wilson.
The gap isn't filled for the second song as singer Stacy emerges from the wings to sit on a chair next to the corner of the stage to speak the lyrics. So it's not until the third song that she actually gets on stage. Once there though she's rivetting with her performance demanding your attention.
The female dancers to my left, blonde and otherwise, don't quite resort to the invitation to break dance made early on by Stacy but they do add to the atmosphere. All in all it's a good show with the set closer lifting the tempo and consequently the LP 'Addiction' is now heading my way. You can hear 4 tracks from it at their Myspace site,
'We Were Promised Jetpacks' were first on and illustrate just how old I'm getting because they feature TV21 guitarist Ally Palmer's son, Michael! They're very now, which is the way it should be for a group of teenagers although the irony is that so many 'now' bands take their influences from Michael's dad's heyday.
But the fact that the songs on the free 5 track EP given away at the show are familiar on first play is undoubtedly a good sign and WWPJ definitely show promise. Bizarrely during the final song there's a Woah-oh which sounds suspiciously like something from TV21's 'End of a Dream'. Check them out here (the obvious single to me would be 'Beggars Can't Be Choosers'.)
Finally some promise too from second on the bill 'V for Victory', although the suspicion lingers that they are waiting for the early 80's synth pop revival to start. (What do you mean it already has?)
The opening song is very reminiscent of Red Organ Serpent Sound, complete with manic organ but the second one in relies heavily on a very twee synth riff, which someone can be heard whistling before song 3! The rest of the set sounds closer to that than the opener and they also have the misfortune of having their set cut short as the show was already over-running.
Their front man though has plenty of charisma and, for fourth favourite band on the night, they're still quite enjoyable.
So all in all a good night (for a fiver!) and another LP is on its way to the collection. Can't say fairer than that.
Thanks to Stephen Brown for filling the gaps in the Isa setlist.
TV21 setlist
This Is Zero
End of A Dream
Ambition
It Feels Like It's Starting To Rain
It's Me
Swimming
Snakes and Ladders
On The Run
Isa & The Filthy Tongues setlist
Nae Tongues
Dreamcatcher
She Said 'Yea'
Sorority Girl
Trouble
Big Star
Finders Fuckers
Celebration Girl
I'll Do What I Want
