I used to like starting gig reviews with little catchphrases, but it's too much effort trying to turn my feelings into a catchy couple of words, and it's not real enough, and I just want this to be feelings and nothing else.

I went to see Twin Atlantic unexpectedly. I had just got my work timetable and I wasn't working on Wednesday night, and here I went, getting changed in the work toilets and putting my lipstick on in the train. I made it to Kingston and... I love the Hippodrome, you know. It's a really good venue, a really stunning building. I just love that place.

Kingston never ceases to amaze me.

Opening the evening were The Xcerts, and I don't have to wish I had words today. As always, as absolutely always, they delivered a beautiful performance, playing every song with a boldness and an energy I can never stop admiring. The rendition of oldie but goldie Slackerpop was like hearing it for the first time ever, even when I've heard it more times than I care to count and even when I've sang along to the "I'll be your man, I'll be your mannequin" line so many times the words are barely real anymore - and yet at the same time, I will always be amazed at that string of words.

But it's There Is Only You that put me on the floor - almost quite literally. It was dedicated to Tom Searle, and I don't really want to cloud all of this with my pain, but I think those five minutes were a little bit cathartic for me. I was standing there, trying to keep it together, shaking harder than ever, feeling about to pass out and throw up, and maybe it was cathartic and a thing coming full circle or something. I couldn't quite place it.

But despite the absolute torture those five minutes were and despite me being my usual awkward self and blurting it out to poor Murray after the show, it was a stunning moment, absolutely perfect, the best tribute anyone could have ever hoped for. 

I usually conclude Xcerts reviews by saying something about them needing to be bigger but we'll keep that for another day.

I wasn't sure how to move on from so much emotion when Twin Atlantic walked on stage. I'm going to be honest, I was such a mess I considered leaving.

But they showed up with their incredible cocktail of gigantic rock songs and anthemic choruses and with frontman Sam McTrusty getting up close and personal with the crowd, and within ten seconds, the tears and the pain had calmed down and I was all smiles and accidental jellyfishing. They have just released GLA (that I know is pronounced G-L-A but that my brain keeps pronouncing "Gla" with the most French accent I can muster up) and I have yet to listen to more than what is available on Spotify, but I know I will love it with all my heart based on that evening and that evening alone.

I've seen Twin Atlantic in small venues a couple of times but I've mostly seen them at massive festivals. They don't necessarily shout gritty basements in my mind. And they fitted here more than anyone would have probably thought they would. They are 100% destined for the big leagues and the arenas and the stadiums and they are 100% becoming the poster boys for the rock bands that are making it again and it was the best thing being able to see them in a small place once again.

Usually, the crowds of the gigs I go to are a bunch of people all dancing the same way, and jumping about the same way, and singing the same way, and it's brilliant, and tonight it felt like a bit of a melting pot, come as you are, come with your little story, come with your awesome dance moves and let's all be a happy family, and quite frankly, I needed that. I was just there with my awful moves  and my accidental Scottish accent and I just wanted to live a little and it was fine by everyone's standards because they just wanted to live a little too.







And Twin Atlantic might just be the perfect band for that. They are so full of life and full of energy. They are so alive and they just make you want to grab life by the horns and live to the fullest. That's what massive rock songs are for. They are little declarations of life.


After playing new tracks and mesmerising me with the stunning Mothertongue (who would have thought something would mesmerise me more than the sound of Sam McTrusty's laugh), sang along as one by a crowd welcoming new songs like old favourites, they tell us a story about watching Foo Fighters and wanting to be the band who plays an album in full and is able to say they're playing the hits, and they move on to, well, the hits.


There's no two ways around it. Hold On, Free, Make a Beast of Myself, Heart and Soul, those are motherfucking hits if I do say so myself. And I (half accidentally) close my eyes and get lot in the music and in the moment and everyone else singing along as personal favourite Brothers and Sisters kicks in, I realise two things :
a) Free might be what got me into them but, and even though it's the least cool thing I could say as a Twin Atlantic fan, Great Divide might just be my favourite. (Sue me, I like big radio rock songs)
b) This moment was on par with T in the Park 2015 for best Twin Atlantic show and I mean, T in the Park was a second stage headliner in Scotland of all places.


And I kinda want to say journalisty stuff and say how I think GLA is going to get them places and how I hope they do a Biffy Clyro and headline Reading & Leeds twice in three years but I just want to say that I've had the time of my life, that I never realised how big the smile they put on my face is, and I think a thank you is in order.