The Next Big Thing

Brother Don caught Teenage Fanclub in SF last night...

"Show was unbelievably GREAT!! TFC rained down a torrent of majestic pop -- one gem after another in a relentless onslaught of melodic gorgeousness!!! they were even better than last time if that's possible. not one but two encores. place was packed and crowd was euphoric throughout as was the band (especially mr blake).

To backtrack a bit... radar bros opened. quite good. kinda remind me a little of that band Spain. a little Spain, a little Luna, a little Floyd - post Syd/pre-dark side and a touch of The Band if that's possible.

TFC opened like gangbusters with "Start Again". Norman had a Gibson 335 which he kept trading for a cherry red Epi 335 with capo. small fender amp -- vibra-something. Bass was a fender precision thru big ampeg tube head and 8 X 10 rig. lead guitar was a fender jag thru slightly bigger fender amp than Norman's but similar (w/reverb). Frank had Gretsch drums. keyboard guy had I a Roland (i think) with a little casio mt-40 (!) on top. they quickly moved to stuff from the new album which went down very well: "The Past", "Shock and Awe" and then the masterpiece: "Baby Lee" -- as good a song as the band has ever done (and that's saying something and a half when you think of how many killers they've delivered over the yrs).

they also did another new fave of mine: "When I Still Have Thee". Plenty of classics to keep all happy: “Sparky's Dream”, “Ain't That Enough”, “I Don't Want To Lose Control”, “The Concept” (talk about killer songs!), “Don't Look Back”. the encores... “Can't Feel My Soul”, “I Need Direction”, “Everything Flows” (keyboard guy played a Tele on that so there were 3 guitars and it was just massive). 2nd encore included an explosive version of "What You Do To Me". just unbelievable.

my only criticism is that it was almost too much of a good thing. .."