Tonight we're gonna rock it!
Turns out that all's not been well in the Towers of London camp and this current tour was nearly derailed last week when two members quit the band. In true punk rock fashion, and no doubt sneering and waving two fingers at those who ran away, Donny Tourette coerced two drinking buddies into helping out on the tour and so the band found themselves playing to a Glasgow audience that was...well...as peculiar and different as the main band themselves.
With over 45 minutes between support and main act, the crowd took to cheering the sound-check or constantly yelling "Get off the stage" to sound engineers and the pre-gig thought was that the night was for a bunch of kids. This changed when the band arrived to their air siren introduction and the older kids (the ones who should know better) came bounding from the bar and started launching them about in front of the stage.
The songs were all pretty much of the same formula, all kicking drums and plenty of sneering vocals over those regular guitar riffs. The Towers of London know their history and borrow and adapt from plenty of places in the tapestry of angry young men. It's possibly a pity that Dirk looks like the genetic splice of the Bay City Rollers and Sweet to be fully believed as a 100% punk rocker.
Just like the album, 'Fuck It Up' featured in both its acoustic and electric version, the latter closing the show but the former provided us with another great Spinal Tap-esque moment. Seeing Dirk Tourette stand proudly with his guitar and then swaying all over the stage during the song was slightly comical, no matter how earnest it was meant.
Which was part of the crazy mix all night, some of the crowd were quite young and seemingly timid crowds who were being bounded all over the venue by rough punks or pogoing upstarts. No doubt Donny approved of the chaos that was happening on the floor as he didn't seem too perturbed when he ended up there. Yes, Donny made an attempt at a stage dive but overshot the first few rows and ended up on the deck but he was soon back on stage having a giggle at himself.
And they don't take themselves too seriously, sure the comment that they "dick on the Sex Pistols" is ludicrous but when you consider that half their songs owe a huge debt to Pistols tracks like 'Bodies' or 'Submission', you get the feeling it's all part of the game plan from the boys (or their management.) We'll maybe ignore the fact that the Pistols were at least railing against things, TOL just seem to be wanting to party.
In as many ways they owe as much to Spinal Tap because Towers of London play stupid rock but this doesn't mean they are stupid. Theres always going to be a market for this type of thing and someones always going to fill it.
A contrast can be made to the way that an adult reading Harry Potter books is just wrong because they could be reading proper adult books instead but so many people seem to be doing it that theres probably some benefit in it (even if its not apparent.) Sure, if you wanted real punk and anger you could go back and check out the real thing but TOL are at least around at the moment and seem to be having the time of their crazy little lives.