You can’t really fault Alphabeat.
It’s like having six cabbage patch dolls on stage dressed like the B-52’s and singing along to a Duran Duran’s greatest hits DVD, only that Alphabeat have a mentalist lead male vocalist in Anders SG, who glazes their sweet harmonised pop with a twist of shaking jerri-curl and enough sneaker stage stomping to quash their goody two shoe stride. With his guitar stringed high, lead guitarist and songwriter Anders B swayed and smiled his way through Boyfriend, Touch Me Touching You and hit single Fascination a trifecta of songs that sling Alphabeat along a one way trajectory to the uninhabited land of pop.
Second billed was Salford duo The Ting Ting’s, a group hotly noted for screeching out catchy attitude-fuelled songs designed to matter your hair up and rekindle a teenage twat mentality. And fair enough, there were enough of us pouting out the lyrics to That’s Not My Name, Shut up and let Me Go and Great DJ to recognise this acts as being a rather popular one, but can popularity alone excuse the fact that The Ting Ting’s don’t really play much live?
As I watched this energetic duo bounce around, smile and antagonise the crowd, I couldn’t ignore the chafing fact that much of their ‘ting’ is produced through programming that came vomiting out of every amp as Katie White fumbled around with minor guitar parts and Jules De Martino bashed the rubbish out of a drum kit. True, majority of two-pieces rely on mechanic members to fatten their sound, but it’s The Ting Ting’s simple abilities and perhaps the fact that White looked like she raided her younger sisters H&M Wardrobe from 1993 only moments before the show, that demoted this act.
And so, it’s been sometime since we’ve heard from Glasgow gents The Fratelli’s, after one cracker of a debut album that shafted this trio into the spotlight along with a bunch of busty pinup girls and a whole lotta vintage rock, tonight proved to be a rather successful showcasing of the material destined to make LP number two Here We Stand another notch on these rock kids belt. With waxed curls sticking to his forehead, Jon Fratelli led his boys through a set that highlighted the bands new tricks, featuring 70’s guitar solos and piano parts but always that blissful Fratelli-esque ‘oh la la’ and ‘bah da das’ that seems to break smiles on the faces of anyone in hearing range. First single Mistress Mable went down like a dream, however it was old favourite including Henrietta, Chelsea Dagger and Flathead that reinstalled the bought our fist to the air, and reminded us of our old favourites The Fratelli’s.
