As the first horrible signs of winter rear their ugly head, Camden's Roundhouse feels like exactly the type of warm dark place one could just choose to make a nest of plastic beer cups and settle down to hibernate until the festival season comes back round again.
Thankfully, none of the bands tonight have any intention of allowing the audience to do this. Its a blessed relief when a support band can deliver a half decent set that doesn't send the audience instantly reaching for their phones to check for messages that aren't there. The Xcerts gleefully take advantage of this larger sized venue to try out their brand of melodic rock on with grace and gusto.
Evidenced by their performance and the material from their new album There Is Only You, their days in the support position could deservedly be numbered.
Twin Atlantic in contrast are past in full headline mode, nearing arena and stadium level bands based on the number and energy of fan base filling the venue tonight. To rip-off the Lester Bang-character from the film Almost Famous, thanks to their single 'Heart and Soul' they're now entering 'the middle': a difficult place between the toilet venues of old and the 10,000 seater stadiums.
In recent trends this is the time when the music industry support for bands wanes. But the reason why Twin Atlantic have received a continued leg up until now soon becomes clear. An atmospheric start of tribal-sounding drums and a stage bathed in blue light sees the band come to the stage for opener 'The Ones That I Love' – an entrance a little pretentious for a band this size.
Yet things soon pick up pace into high octane rock with 'Hold On'. And it is here on the red line where the energy meter for the evening is set and seems reluctant to move for the night. There is no let up in the pace or the power of the music to follow. This is great for the half of the audience who are looking ahead at the full span of their teens, but exhausting and disengaging for the half who are cultivating a mid-rift spread instead. And its around 'Fall Into The Party' and 'End Of Our Sweet Universe' with their almost One Direction-like pop quality and cushy that the penny drops as to why record labels have continued interest here.
Every song is styled as an anthem, every chorus is huge and most of the lyrics are vapid in their grandiosity. Its the type of thing early teens lap up, like a rock music alcopop that's easy to swallow and utterly marketable. And its at this point, the veil drops on this identi-kit rock. The forced and unnecessary sounding drum solo in 'The Ghost of Eddie', the heavier 'Cell Mate' and the obligatory acoustic number 'Crash Land' all carry the trappings of rock folklore. Yet all are undertaken with a lacking sense of depth and conviction.
While the energy levels stay high, this performance is as organic as the energy drinks that most likely fuel it. Leaving the gig craving a slower song or some sort of loud/quiet dynamic, its hard to fault Twin Atlantic for what they're doing. Making every song sound like the next big release or stadium sing-a-long is great for securing success with the generation who have boundless energy and short attention spans. How long it will keep them famous however, is another question.
