Review
TWIN ATLANTIC
PLUS: Lower Than Atlantis
The Waterfront, Norwich
21st April 2012
Words and Photos: Charlie Wallis
The venue is totally packed tonight. Twin Atlantic have only ever visited Norwich once before in support of The Subways yet they have managed to totally sell out The Waterfront remarkably easily. This “everyone breathe in so we can get everyone in” situation is surely a testament to the seemingly unstoppable rise of both Twin Atlantic and to a similar extent their main supports Lower Than Atlantis.
It can so often be the case with support bands that they’re a mere formality that the crowd must endure with the promise of the main act as reward for putting up with whoever’s on before hand. When it comes to Lower Than Atlantis however this could not be further from the truth. The whole venue is buzzing when they take to the stage and an outsider could be forgiven for thinking, based on the reaction to opener ‘If the World Was to End’, that Lower Than Atlantis are tonight’s main event. The show these guys put on really sets the bar high in terms of energy with lead singer Mike Duce throwing every ounce of emotion into every note sung. Lower Than Atlantis really strike as a band who feed off the energy of the crowd they’re playing to and tonight they’re able to gorge themselves. Songs like ‘Beech Like the Tree’ flood the venue with a cataclysmic sense of epicness that totally defies the expectations of your average support band. The Foo Fighters tribute mid set is an arguably puzzling interlude but the crowd react extremely positively. What’s clear is that after tonight this band could easily headline the same venue and get the same level of turnout.
Lower Than Atlantis
As the build-up to Twin Atlantic begins somehow the venue gets even more crowded until every morsel of space is swallowed whole by the massing crowd. Before anything even starts the crowd are singing at the top of their lungs as the familiar sounds of Bohemian Rhapsody are triumphant emitted from the venue’s PA system. This is clearly an excitable bunch, the question is can Twin Atlantic meet the lofty expectations of their eager audience? Yes. Yes they can, and then some. What’s really impressive about Twin Atlantic is the way the momentum never dips throughout the whole performance. Each song played is as exciting as the previous one, from old favourite ‘Lightspeed’ which is announced to riotous applause to Twin Atlantic’s big hit ‘Free’ to which lead singer Sam McTrusty needn’t have bothered actually singing along to as over the audience it was nigh on impossible to hear him!
Twin Atlantic
The set Twin Atlantic play tonight is a dynamic experience which won’t quickly be forgotten by those in attendance with the highlight for me coming from simply awesome ‘Make a Beast of Myself’. Never has the question about a band living up to their hype been answered to comprehensively. A stunning performance.
