Part of the appeal of live music lies in the atmosphere. A little madness goes a long way to making a good show better. Few will know this better than Victor from New Mexico, who I will refer to later. One tranquil Thursday night, MacSorleys played host to Manchester-based psych-rockers Twilight Robin.
I had been informed that both acts scheduled to support the band tonight had cancelled, resulting in a two-hour wait at the bar. This turned out to be no bad thing, as masses flooded into the bar after a hard day's work, possibly unaware of what was to come.
Around 9:30pm, the band, looking like a half-assed Blue Man Group, got started. What stood out immediately was the confidence of front man Ben. The merger of the first two songs was a nice touch, but the band really got the show going with the pseudo-reggae "Radio Song", its clanking rhythm getting feet tapping all through the bar. The slow-burning "I Thought It Was Love" allowed the band to toy with vocal harmonies. While the vocals were impressive, it was hard not to think that their faux-Queen wailings were in jest.
The stand-out number of the evening was "Two Sides", an organ-driven rocker that evidently borrows from the Spiderman theme. The organ sounds was a welcome accompaniment to most songs, adding another dimension to their sound. The final track of the night went out to Victor, whose yelling and dancing amused us all. By the end, though, he wasn't alone on the dance floor. The band went off to inflated applause, deservedly. A fine performance.
Twilight Robin are a band that doesn't take themselves too seriously, As a result, their confidence isn't forced. It will be important for the band to continue gigging at this stage in their career. This band have in them the ability to go places, and this show will have done their Glasgow fan base no harm.