Twin Atlantic – Leeds Beckett Student Union – 15/10/16
After lying low for most of the year, Twin Atlantic (9) finally returned last month with their fourth full-length album ‘GLA’, displaying a slight shift in sound, bringing some edgy energetic rock music to the table. Tonight they return to Leeds Beckett Student Union for the first time since October 2014, to give us a taster of some of their brand new music on their first tour in support of the new album.
There’s no better way to get the night started than with ‘Gold Elephant: Cherry Alligator’, which opens up the new album in furious style, and it does exactly just that here tonight too. Rolling out onto the stage to the pounding drums and distorted guitars in a flood of red light in true ‘GLA’ fashion, front man Sam McTrusty sings, shouts, and screams his way through the first song like it’s the last. ‘You Are The Devil’ instantly follows with its rock driven verse and catchy chorus, before new single ‘The Chaser’ has the whole room clapping and bouncing along. Its clear Twin Atlantic are dying to throw the crowd straight into the new material, and prove they still have what it takes to be one of the best rock bands around.
Tonight isn’t just about the new album however, as their second full length ‘Free’ features heavily in the set too. The title track ‘Free’ and ‘Make A Beast Of Myself’ both still hold as much of a powerful performance as they did when they were first released. The fantastic ‘Crash Land’ has everybody in the venue singing their hearts out as the set strips back to Sam’s acoustic guitar, and Barry flaunting his skills with the Cello to make it somehow even more moving than it already was.
‘Great Divide’ also has a few tracks that just can’t be left out. The energy that ‘Fall Into The Party’ and ‘Hold On’ create shows just how much the fans love that album cycle, and also how much Twin Atlantic enjoy playing them live too. Even ‘Human After All’ and ‘Lightspeed’ are slipped in for the hardcore Twin fans from their first album ‘Vivarium’.
In a set full of furious rock songs, Sam still manages to throw in a solo performance for ‘Mothertongue’ mid set, which boasts the frontmans vocals and provides something a little different which gets a great response from the crowd.
Hit after hit, the Scottish rockers storm through a full throttle set worthy of a headline slot in a much bigger venue. But the fact that it’s practically a sold out room full to the brim of screaming, singing, and moshing fans, makes it just that little bit more special, and the energy rubs straight off onto the lads on stage too.
A perfect set comes to an emphatic end with the bouncing ‘Heart and Soul’, an extremely loud performance of ‘Brothers and Sisters’ which has the whole room singing once again, and the lead single from ‘GLA’ – ‘No Sleep’, which leaving the floor bouncing in sync to the epic chorus for one final time with it’s infectious riff from guitarist Barry McKenna.
Another outstanding show from one of the best bands Scotland has to offer, and with an incredible performance like this becoming the usual for Twin Atlantic, surely larger venues are waiting for these guys just around the corner in 2017!
We’ll be waiting!
Check out more live photos of Twin Atlantic at this show here!
Photography – © Danny Peart Photography
