Fuzzy Moroseness Wins Me Over!
Wow, what an amazing place the Hammersmith Apollo is. Elegance, class, plushness and chandeliers. And a gigantic organ. You kind of get a sense of the ghosts of the revellers of the 1930s all done up to the nines coming out to party here. To be honest it’s a similar vibe tonight, the thousands of people piling in all have an air of grand expectation, and both bands appearing tonight definitely match the scale of the venue.
The Twilight Sad are on first, previously referred to as the ‘Scottish Editors’ which does this group a huge injustice. They’re sad, melodramatic and put in an immense performance which sizzled with fuzzy melancholy. Having no prior experience or knowledge of a band before you hear them live is often a great thing as it means you can listen with virgin ears – no expectations. I do get a vague sense of Editors style coming through from the singer in particular, all arms and impatient fingers accentuating long drawn out notes. But really The Twilight Sad deliver much more than my preconceptions had imagined and the full capacity crowd seemed to love their sound.
The theatrical performance by TTS included ‘Last January’ and ‘There’s a Girl in the Corner’ and unexpectedly their morose electronica won me over. Granted, the sound was a little too fuzzy in places and I would have liked more clarity in the vocals, but definitely a band to watch out for again.
After only a short break, it was time for Editors to take to the stage, looking every inch like dapper gents from the 1930s, and banging straight in to what promised to be a killer set. Which for about an hour it absolutely was. Then the killer set got viciously massacred by some gremlins in the machines wanting to join in with random static bursts and crunches, it was like a bowl of snap, crackle and pop at times, much to the dismay of the aghast audience. And clearly very frustrating for all on stage. After a serious delay and hopefully the sacking of whoever smuggled in those gremlins, Editors returned with a powerfully moving encore that had me quite nearly in tears. Papillon blew everybody away, and the walls, chandeliers and that huge organ were bouncing in time. Fair play to them all for continuing, I think many others would have given up after so many technological complications.
