Twin Atlantic / Dinosaur Pile-Up / Arcane Roots
Glasgow O2 Academy (Saturday December 10th)
It’s not often that you’ll get a line up quite as good as this. All three bands seem to complement each other and, despite having completely different styles, they all create one hell of a powerhouse of sound. Kingston based ambitious angular rock trio Arcane Roots soar through a short but rather epic set featuring songs from their debut mini album ‘Left Fire’. Admittedly, the Glasgow crowd aren’t exactly going nuts yet, but it’s still early in the evening, things are still warming up and a few ears and eyes are definitely focused on the trio as they power through the likes of ‘In This Town Of Such Weather’, ‘Rouen’ and recent single ‘You Are’.
Next, it’s time for Leeds’ grunge pop superstars Dinosaur Pile-Up to take the stage. Somewhat surprisingly, the band play all new songs during their small set, finishing on ‘My Rock N Roll’, the only track played from debut album ‘Growing Pains’. Further gaining the audience’s attention, the trio treat the Twin crowd to their subtle blend of “heavy metal and love songs” as the vast O2 Academy grows more and more compact. “Are you ready for Twin Atlantic?” is all frontman Matt Bigland has to say to encourage deafening screams from the Glasgow crowd before leaving the stage to make way for the final act of the night, the act everyone is there to see.
Finally Sam McTrusty and co take to the stage, greeted by an astonishing reaction from the crowd. The thundering intro of ‘Make A Beast Of Myself’ belts through the PA and the crowd go even crazier, if that’s even possible. Right from the word go, they know every line and sing every word, whether it’s newer songs such as ‘Edit Me’ and ‘We Want Better, Man’ or oldies from debut mini album ‘Vivarium, the likes of ‘Lightspeed’, ‘Human After All’ and ‘What Is Light? Where Is Laughter?’ Pretty impressive stuff. A dedication to support act Dinosaur Pile-Up then comes in the form of an acoustic cover of the Pixes’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’ (sung in Sam’s notorious Glaswegian accent) which then very cleverly morphs into ‘Crash Land’.
But, as with any homecoming leg of a band’s tour, through the sheer love of their city, they’ll always give a little extra. Sometimes it’s a little extra energy from the rush of adrenaline which only comes from playing in front of a crowd who you know have supported your band from the very start. Sometimes it might even be an extra song. “Every night on this tour, we’ve been playing 17 songs”, says an excitable Sam, “but since we’re here in Glasgow, fuck it, we’ll do 18.” And so they did, ripping out classic fan favourite ‘Audience and Audio’ in all its chantalong glory.
A brief pause is followed by a blinding encore in which Twin deliver ‘Time For You To Stand Up’ before a sincere, heartfelt speech from Sam as he thanks the Glasgow crowd for all its support. “Without our hometown and our own people accepting us as well as you guys have, we wouldn’t be half the band we are today”, declares a humbled Sam before introducing the last song. Closing with massive track ‘Free’ complete with confetti explosions, the band cement their place as one of Scotland’s biggest and best new rock bands as members of their fellow Glasgow comrades The LaFontaines, Carnivores and Fires Attract look on from the crowd, in the hope that they might one day taste such success.
Nina Glencross
