LIVE: Twin Atlantic

Glaswegian rockers Twin Atlantic kicked off their UK tour in their home town, playing The Barrowlands for the second time as a band.You would think that with The Killers rocking the SECC on the same date, that Twin would struggle to sell out the venue, yet the place was packing and the atmosphere was great. I will go into further detail afterwards.

Twin Atlantic started their support acts off with Paisley band, Carnivores. Full of energy, the hardcore rockers got the crowd going with tracks such as Lion Tamer and Scottish Football. They have a great sound, at times sounding like Enter Shikari minus the electronic sound. At times they also sounded a lot like top American band Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana. Front man Kenny Leckie, despite looking a bit like a man who enjoys watching Countdown, he goes crazy as the crowd react to his actions and do the same. The whole band by the end have tops off, thrashing their guitars everywhere and screaming down microphones as they finished a remarkable performance.

Now, for the second support act, there was a man called Charlie Simpson. Now if that name hasn't got you screaming and being all nostalgic, he was the singer/drummer of popular ex-pop rock band Busted. I'll give all you Busted fangirls a moment to calm down. He has changed since then. With his rock band Fightstar currently on hiatus, he has started a solo career which has a country-rock feel. Unfortunately, with the majority of the crowd still so hyped from Carnivores, Charlie was out-staged and out-classed by the rockers, with a few bobbing heads and mutters as Simpson played his set. Everyone was now impatient and waiting for the main act.

The fans sang in unison to Bohemian Rhapsody, a ritual that is played before every Twin Atlantic concert. A curtain covered the stage, hiding everything behind it. Riffs could be heard from their single Time For You to Stand Up as the crowd clapped together. The curtain fell to bright lights and revealed the band, led by Sam McTrusty.

After restarting the song, the band got off to a flying start as they warmed up the crowd. Apocalyptic Renegade and Lightspeed then came with their indie-rock sound keeping the crowd intrigued and excited. This was then followed by Dreamember which was closely followed by the screaming, heavy rock anthem The Ghost of Eddie where there were mosh pits galore. Things got calmer for a while with Human After All and then an acoustic and slower version of Vivarium hit, You're Turning Into John Wayne which gave everyone a moment to breathe. The next couple of songs were relatively quiet, being less known to the crowd in the form of Eight Days and Brothers & Sisters which made it's live performance that night. Then the nostalgic tunes came, starting off with classic explosive tune What Is Light? Where Is Laughter? before playing dreamy track Carribean War Syndrome. Twin Atlantic then returned to crooning song Edit Me starting a riot in the crowd with everyone going mental. This was followed by Wonder Sleeps Here and then McTrusty gave the fans a treat, with a new song called Sparkly Touch which will be shown below.

Coming into the closing stages the Glaswegians played first album track We Want Better, Man and then played their song A Guidance From Colour for the first time in two full years, much to the delight of fans of this song. The whole crowd bellowed the single from the eponymous album Free in which ended a magical night...until the encore. Everyone screamed as Sam, Barry, Ross and Craig returned to the stage. Sam started the introduction to The Beatles song All My Loving with Barry playing the cello, before mashing into fan favourite, Crash Land. The fans poured their hearts out for Yes, I Was Drunk with a shitload of headbanging. Finally, after Sam congratulated the crowd and thanked them for coming, the band finished with ultimate tune Make A Beast of Myself. It was such a great finish with everyone moving energetically and belting out the lyrics. The Barrowlands may be a little harassing to get into without ID and having metal detectors, but to watch one of the best rock bands to every come from Scotland, it's worth every penny.

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