Glasgow's Queen Margaret Union is one of those little intimate venues that
are securely tucked away from the big bad world all around it. Occasionally
they have good bands gracing them with their presence and tonight seen the
arrival of Terrorvision.
The venue can only hold around 500 people and tonight the number was nearing
that. As I arrived at 8pm, the doors having been open for 30 minutes, there
was quite a respectable queue formed. I honestly had no idea of what to
expect as this was my first ever Terrorvision gig. I was, in fact, a
Terrorvision virgin.
The one thing that did become clear to me when I saw the crowd that had
gathered was that these people were here expecting a good time and nothing
else. And they knew fine well that they would get it too. I don't think there
were many Terrorvision-first-timers in the crowd so everyone was confident it
would be a good night. But with an atmosphere like that, how could I expect
anything else?
After a late start, the support, Fungus came on. Hailing from Sweden and
consisting of three lads and a girl, they were nothing special. They didn't
provide much conversation between songs probably because they were shaking
too much with nerves. The anticipation of being accepted I think really took
them over and was also the reason that their performance was so
disappointing. However, they gave the crowd something to look at and played
well even though they knew they could not live up to the headliners of this
tour. They played a 40 minute set which included their debut single, I'd
Rather Be A Doll which impressed the crowd.
When Fungus left the stage, the anticipation for Bradford's finest was just
beginning. The crowd, now having been slightly warmed up by Fungus, were
begging for their favourite lads to entertain them. After many soundchecks
and what seemed like hours, Terrorvision finally showed their faces all
looking incredibly normal except for Tony, of course, who had on a bright
white boiler suit which under the UV lights actually made him 'glow'. They
opened with Alice, What's The Matter? much to the enjoyment of the crowd and
prepared their ears for the volume they had to cope with for the rest of the
night. As they opened, I had to make my first decision of the night, will I
stay were I was and get completely flattened by everyone around me in the
place where everyone was about 4 foot taller than me and that can only be
called Terrorvision's Mosh Pit? Or will I move and have a slight chance to
breathe? I went with the option to survive and took refuge at the speakers -
a place where hardly anyone dared go and I literally did breathe a sigh of
relief.
After their very impressive opening, the lads sailed through Enteralterego,
Easy and What Makes You Tick all of which got a huge response from the crowd.
Next up was their most recent single, Josephine (not named after their
temporary keyboard player, might I add in) which Tony, smiling like a
Cheshire cat, introduced as " This is for all you ladyboys out there… this
is Josephine" in his lovely Bradford accent. Like the others, the crowd knew
all the words and were obviously very familiar with it even though they
hadn't had the time to get to know it properly. I can't actually describe to
you the atmosphere that was there while they were playing - you really have
to experience it yourself. Everyone who was there was equal, and everyone was
having a good time.
For me, one of the biggest highlights of the gig was their fantastic
Middleman. The way this song experiments with 'pop-rock' but also making the
lyrics actually mean something at the same time is an amazing achievement. It
is one of those songs that if someone else sang it, just wouldn't give the
same effect. Tony's voice is amazing in everything he does but this song
portrays the true brilliance he is capable of. His voice doesn't sound
'manufactured' like many others we hear these days and he sings the lyrics
with the same power and emotion as they were first written with. Hearing the
song live is even better, because you have the sound go right through your
body as well as actually hearing it.
After Middleman came Hypnotised, another from their new album "Shaving
Peaches". "Let's see who's bought the album this week then" he tests the
audience before merging right into it. This song goes down well, even though
it is pretty clear that some people haven't bought the album yet but they
still jump around to it.
After Dog Chewed The Handle, they introduce the next song simply by " Some of
you might know this, it's the B-side from Josephine" and the crowd
immediately goes mad. They applause and smiles are seen all around as Go
Jerry makes its debut at the QMU. The crowd loves the pure irony of this
song, the way it takes the piss without really meaning to and respects the
chat-show-host hero-of-many at the same time.
Discotheque Wreck, another one of the older songs played, was another which
the crowd enjoyed thoroughly and loving every minute of the "I can mashed
potato/ I can do the twist/ Tell me baby/ Do you like it like this" and was
the reason that made everyone in that little venue smile.
To put the atmosphere back up to the level it was before, Tequila, the
infamous song written about Tony's time in Madrid where he broke both his
ankles, was played. This is a very 'jumpy' song, much like previous
Terrorvision songs, and is an ideal drinking song. A painfully truthful song
"That's the curse of Tequila, It makes me happy", but maybe in Tony's case,
it made him a little too happy…
Walking on stage for their encore, Terrorvision received an amazing response.
To end a fantastic night, they played arguably some of their strongest songs,
Celebrity Hit List, Pretend Best Friend, and the fantastic Perseverance. All
three went down well and it became obvious that they were the songs the crowd
had been waiting for all night.
I may not be a trained journalist and I am, however, just like you. I want to
go to a gig and enjoy myself as much as the next person so I'll tell you this
- go and see Terrorvision live, I guarantee that you will want to do it all
again no matter how many bruises you have or how sore your legs feel the next
morning…
Melissa Gunn