I last saw Teenage Fanclub as recently as possible; they hadn't played in Canada for four years prior to tonight, and even if I didn't love them irrationally it seemed fitting to round out my undergraduate career with another viewing.

[Fannish details and setlist past the cut...]

I can't remember who opened for them last time, but I'm pretty sure the Rosebuds will stick in my memory - they were great live, with Kelly Crisp in particular adding a lot to the band's sound via keyboards.

It was neat enough that she fills in for the bass (playing long sustained tones rather than actually trying to play like a bass guitar, usually), but I also liked that she bothered varying her sound. We were right at the front and from glancing at her set list it seems like particular keyboard settings were only repeated once or twice, which gives the Rosebuds' otherwise basic set-up a lot more variety. They'd also added a second guitarist who added a lot of power to the songs, and although I'd never heard them before and hadn't felt the urge to do so, we walked out with a copy of their debut album.

Teenage Fanclub were, of course, magnificent. The set was fairly similar to what I saw in 2001, albeit with about half of the new Man-Made added in - the new tracks generally worked well live, with "Slow Fade" and "Don't Hide" being the best. "Verisimilitude" was again done in a version that added substantial oomph to the chorus and that should get even those who hated the album version to pay attention (it's one of my favourite Grand Prix songs, so naturally it was a highlight), and "Starsign" was probably the single biggest highlight. It's interesting to note that the band generally play newer songs in near-identical to the album versions, but with older songs they keep the melody and lyrics while varying the guitar parts (this was especially noticable on "The Cabbage"). This was both good and bad - we were all a bit wrongfooted when a particular song went in a different direction, but the newer parts were at least as good as what they replaced.

I'd been kind of silently competing with the guy a few people down from me for the space in front of Norman Blake's set list, so as they launched into "The Concept" in closing I leaned forward and just yanked the thing free from the tape holding it down and hastily stuffed it behind the monitor in front of me. I looked up afterwards and Blake (who my girlfriend says "looks like a hobbit", although I believe she means this positively) was grinning at me, clearly both glad tosee such devotion and amused by my cheek. I grinned ruefully and gave him the thumbs up and he nearly lost it before singing the next line, which is both one of my favourite concert stories ever and oddly emblematic of the high spirits of the evening.

Any fans of the band wondering if they're still worth seeing live are strongly encouraged to go, both for the generous smattering of classics and the strong performances.

Set list:
About You
Time Stops
Slow Fade
Near You
The Cabbage
My Uptight Life
Starsign
It's All In My Mind
Verisimilitude
Dumb Dumb Dumb
I Need Direction
Start Again
Don't Hide
Don't Look Back
I Don't Want Control Of You
Feel
Born Under A Good Sign
Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From
Neil Jung
Sparky's Dream

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Ain't That Enough
Did I Say
Can't Feel My Soul
The Concept