The Trinity Centre is always a good end-of-year venue. There’s a cosiness to the converted church that suits the season, and it turns out to be the ideal setting for latest album, ‘Do Not Dare To Dream’. Recorded at Black Bay Studio on Great Bernera, it’s a brilliantly autumnal record, warm and reflective, and it sounds right at home in a room like this.
Tonight is sold out, and unlike some of their contemporaries who have managed a cross-generational appeal, the ‘Fannies’ (trust us, that’s the real term) draw a crowd very much matching the band’s age. There’s no shame in that. We’re all here for the same reason, and an evening in the company of old friends suits these songs perfectly.
Support comes from , formerly of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, who these days also doubles as Teenage Fanclub’s keyboard player and backing vocalist. His first song is about falling in love with a ghost; the second is a love song to a colander. It’s every bit as sweet and demented as you’d expect, delivered as he pounds away at the keys with the glee of a man who knows exactly how strange he sounds. It’s a bit love or hate. Some old fans in the crowd are loving every minute, while others bolt for the smoking area.
The band takes the stage at 9pm, and the new material sounds wonderful. For a casual fan like myself, it’s actually the highlight of the night. These songs feel fresher, being built solely around Norman Blake (vocals, guitar) and Raymond McGinley (vocals, lead guitar) since the departure of fellow key songwriter, Gerry Love, in 2018. On the flip side, their decision to no longer play anything written or sung by Love still stings. There’s no ‘Sparky’s Dream’, no ‘Star Sign’, and you can’t help feeling the gaps where they should be. Still, a 20-song set that celebrates their best albums without flogging the new record to the room is a smart balance, and it never tips into a victory lap. Hearing ‘The Concept’ is worth the price of admission alone, while ‘Mellow Doubt’ is a gorgeous stripped-back highlight.
It helps that the back catalogue is so deep. Formed in Bellshill in 1989, Teenage Fanclub built their name on a Big Star-inspired love of melody and harmony, and in 1991 ‘Bandwagonesque’ famously topped Spin’s album of the year list, ahead of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’. Decades on, that DNA is still unmistakable: choruses that arrive without fuss and layered harmonies that sit somewhere between wistful and uplifting.
The playing deserves a mention too. McGinley sticks to a Fender Jaguar, conjuring equal parts jangle and fiery fuzz, while Blake works through a handful of guitars, retuned a thousand times for different material. It’s unshowy craft, the kind that rewards watching the stage rather than the clock, and it keeps the set moving even when the room itself is slow to catch fire.
It’s a laid-back affair, maybe a little too laid-back from the crowd for the first half, if I’m honest. There’s no rock star swagger and no drama, just some old hands delivering beautiful harmonies and gorgeous melodies. But that’s exactly why the band has survived so long. No matter what the industry was doing, or how much it fawned over them, they just plodded along writing the tunes that made them happy. No pretence. No giant statements. Just songs.
Nice might not be the adjective you’re looking for at a live show, but it’s what this Wednesday night was: a friendly band, a relaxed crowd eager to catch the favourites, and a handful of earworm melodies to hum on the way home. Nothing wrong with that.
