Teenage Fanclub - The Forum, London

Part of the 'Don't Look Back festival' with bands playing "classic" albums in their entirety - Teenage Fanclub tackled Bandwagonesque. Aside from playing as note-perfect renditions of songs as possible, the band went all out with the line-up, getting original drummer Brendan O'Hare to take the stool again, but more exciting for me was the inclusion of Joe McAlinden (Superstar etc) reprising his work on violin, and US-based producer Don Fleming performing additional guitar and quasi MC duties.Even though quite a few of these songs turn up in their current live set, massive kudos to the band for really going for it with regard to recreating the sounds of the original album: the full backing vocals on 'The Concept', sax and strings where it should be, added handclaps, extra guitar, even dusting off the drum-machine for "Is This Music?". The album was as expected - highlights remain 'The Concept', 'Star Sign' and 'Alchoholiday' - but I did find playing the album in order an oddly anticlimactic experience because you always knew what was coming next.

After a 15 minute break the band returned - this time with current drummer Francis MacDonald - for more of a traditional set (minus any of the already played Bandwagonesque stuff) - most likely to spite the nostalgia of the evening - kicking off with a double-shot from latest album 'Man-Made' with "It's All In My Mind" and "Fallen Leaves".'Grand Prix' also got a nice airing with versions of "Verisimilitude" and "Mellow Doubt", “About You”, “Don't Look Back” and “Sparky’s Dream”. From 'Songs From Northern Britain' we got the awesome "Ain't That Enough" and "I Don't Want Control of You", and “Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From”, while"I Need Direction" was the sole contribution from 2000's 'Howdy'. Finally, original drummer Brendan O'Hare returned for "Everything Flows" as a drawn-out closer.

PS thanks to Heather from TeenageFanclub.com forum for the gig photos.