Twin Atlantic - Tramshed
- Jeff Jones
- Sep 30, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 6, 2021
or.....'How do you feel old at a gig?'...'by being the oldest!'
Gig Number 2 August 24
Having spent a couple of days listening to their last album -Power- I was interested enough to want to see this big sound translated to a live experience. With only 5 days before the gig (it was quite a late decision), partly because I hadn’t realised quite how popular this band is and luckily I managed to get one of the last tickets, I was intrigued to see what a sold out show would look like.
I would be doing this gig solo as Nikki didn't fancy it and Rob is still in splendid isolation after eldest daughter came down with the dreaded coronavirus. Luckily it was contracted fairly quickly after youngest daughter and End of the Road festival is still happening.
So, on a balmy late summer evening, I headed down to The Tramshed for my second post covid live gig. The Tramshed, for those unfamiliar with the live music scene in Cardiff, is a Grade II listed former Tram depot in Grangetown, half a mile to the west of Cardiff city centre. It was redeveloped in the early 20teens and opened as a 1000 capacity music venue in late 2015. A very welcome addition to the Cardiff music scene, this venue has added greatly to Cardiff's cultural reputation and, in my opinion, helped attract much more music to the city.
To the gig itself. Firstly, let's address the sold out angle, I was expecting a decentish crowd but was shocked and pleased and slightly concerned to see around 600 people at this gig. Four days before the gig I had received an email from my ticket provider, informing me that it would be mandatory to show my double jab Covid vaccination passport........MY WHAT? After a little research, I have to say I downloaded the passport relatively quickly. I felt suitably secure that they were taking Covid responsibility and thought no more. The reality was, no fucker asked to see my passport at any time and suddenly I was in a room of 600 people, the majority of them less than half my age. (No really, I was the oldest person by far. Old enough in comparison to notice the complete lack of eye contact I was receiving while everyone else celebrated the return of live music in a post covid world....it's OK, I found it quite funny) Now, I'm in no way a paranoid person, the truth is, I probably wouldn't have given it much thought if I hadn't received that email, but 600 sweaty people in one room with only one bar open.....the bar being at the back of that one room........Well, I'm still here, I've had negative lateral flow tests since, so ROCK ON.
Support was given by BLOXX, a four piece suburban London outfit. They had lots of energy and attitude and ALWAYS a huge
chorus. If I was a betting man I'd be putting a tenner on them having spent a lot of time listening to Paramore in their early teen years. Not saying that's a bad thing and maybe another few years on, they will have developed their sound sufficiently to be as highly thought of as Paramore. Headlining their own tour and not having to suffer the support act muffled mix will help no end! They worked the audience well and I can see them proving to be a regular and reliable festival filler for a few years to come.
Time for Twin Atlantic.....arriving to a 2 minute ambient piano chord build up, they took to the stage with lead man Sam McTrusty soaking up the audience's love and the show began. Beginning with the last single, Bang On The Gong, the crowd immediately assumed their
role of adoring fans. ........................For fucks sake Jeff, this is turning into a 1980's Sounds review!.... The bottom line is, Twin Atlantic are a BIG band, I just didn't know it. The audience were 95% in the 18-25 age group and have been festival goers, to festivals like your Leeds & Reading, your Download, your Isle of Wight......while I've been going to Greenman, No6 and Cheltenham Jazz.......... So a few little discrepancies in our mutual listening memories.
Twin Atlantic were rehearsed , polished and professional and that's a compliment not a sly euphemism for slick, bland and boring. They have spent their 14 years as a stable band, moving from their original EMO tinged rock into into a band that, with the introduction of a sequencer, brings funk, disco and a little Gary Numans Tubeway Army into their sound. That stability is key to this and I have much admiration for a bunch of people who can keep that vision going and keep growing over a 14 year period. Apparently the guitarist has detached himself from the band as a full-time songwriting member but still tours with them, personally I think that's great and speaks volumes for how they keep on the road. The audience love them and they knew, pretty much all, the words of the songs in the set. Lots of microphone thrust toward the audience encouraging crowd participation on the chorus moments. They sang with the band, they bounced with the band and then they moshed, which appears to be de rigeur for this age group. I personally blame the demise in physical contact sports in school for this. Anyway, the moshing was quite amusing in its own way, my last gig at the Tramshed was New Model Army in autumn 2019. I think any of tonights moshers would have shat themselves if they'd found themselves in the the middle of a NMA mosh pit.
All in all then, a great gig, a powerful band and glad I got to see them in a venue like the Tramshed because I feel they may well be an arena band on their next visit to Cardiff....and I won't be paying £45 to see them at the Motorpoint.
I spoke to quite a few people in that 18-25 demographic after the gig and they all said "wow, you saw Twin Atlantic at the Tramshed, big gig, big band'.
So there I am, the 60 year old with his finger on the pulse of the nation, though not on my pulse as I sometimes can't find it and I panic that I'm actually not breathing anymore.
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