Live Review: Twin Atlantic – O2 Institute, Birmingham 19.05.2022 Plus Gallery


Tonight is the final night of Twin Atlantic‘s tour celebrating 15 years of their album ‘Free‘ giving us songs from the album as well as their greatest hits and ‘Edit Me‘ is a great way to start as the crowd are finding their feet for the night. This album has stood the test of time and nothing is going to stop this bunch from singing in their best Scottish accent – I mean, it’s possible not to. Cheers for ‘Free‘, ‘Crash Land‘ & ‘Make a Beast of Myself‘ fill the the room and set the atmosphere on fire; the sound of the room singing ‘Crash Land‘ back to the band definitely give a false sense of how many people are in the room.

Frontman Sam McTrusty‘s smile is infectious and his charm doesn’t go unnoticed as he talks to the crowd; he clearly loves what he does even if he deems his jokes as “not funny”. ‘The Ghost of Eddie‘ is one of the heavier tracks of the night but its welcomed with open arms by these dedicated fans. ‘Serious Underground Dance Vibes‘ is an instrumental track which offers very good dance vibes actually and allows everyone on stage to truly show off just how good they are. As ‘We Want Better, Man‘ rounds of the tracks from the ‘Free’ album, we’re then treated to the greatest hits coming from a number of albums.

No Sleep‘ is where the show really begins and we start to hear arena sized screams and cheers coming from the audience. Sam only has to look at this audience the right way to get every single hand in the air. This feels like the fastest gig in history as before we know it, we’re 17 songs in and ‘Bang on The Gong‘ is being screamed back to this 4 piece at an unholy volume. The charm keeps coming as Sam dedicates ‘Barcelona‘ to us because “he knows we’re also deprived of sun”.

This is where Sam starts to struggle and feel defeated – he let us know earlier in the show that he had to have a doctor out as he has a cold but it hasn’t shown until now. Regardless, this crowd are happy to fill in any gaps for him. He starts to apologize between every song (though it’s not needed) and there isn’t a soul in the room who doesn’t give him a scream or round of applause to let him know that he’s doing an incredible job. Twin cut the setlist short by a song ending on ‘Heart & Soul‘ and making it even heavier than usual. There is no better way to end given the circumstances and this group are quick to pick up any slack that may have been dropped. It’s admirable to see someone give 110% even though it’s so obvious that they’re struggling. Promises of making it up to Birmingham next time are greeted with the biggest round of applause of the night and with that, the night draws to a close.

Previous Album Review: José Medeles – Railroad Cadences & Melancholic Anthems : a stunning ‘tribute’ to John Fahey’s musical spirit.
Next Live Review: State Champs / Between You & Me - O2 Institute, Birmingham 18.05.2022 Plus Gallery

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