The Enemy & The Twang LIVE @ Shepherds Bush Empire 19.12.14

Turn up to Shepherds Bush Empire the night that The Twang and The Enemy are playing and, unsurprisingly you’ll find yourself completely overrun by football hooligan-types in Fred Perry shirts and Harrington Jackets – the type who, even when singing happy birthday to their friend in the middle of a crowd, sound like they’re chanting. Apparently, in December, you’ll also see a surprising number of these shirts and jackets accompanied by ironic Christmas jumpers. What you won’t find, however, is that many women, or anyone under the age of 25.

Arriving towards the end of Jaws’ set, the energy of the evening was already pretty clear. Fans of The Enemy aren’t necessarily the first people you’d think of as fans of Jaws, yet they had already kicked off into an inebriated attempt at dancing.

Bouncing onto the stage, whipping up the crowd with their Brummie confidence, The Twang kicked off straight away – as did the crowd. The energy was admirable: at no point in the set did the band or the crowd falter. It was seemingly a constant competition for who could jump the highest and scream the loudest. Playing a rather seamless setlist, featuring a whole host of older singles like Wide Awake, Barney Rumble and Two Lovers, alongside songs from their new album, ‘Neontwang’ such as New Love and Step Away and even slipping in a cover of Bran Van 3000s Drinking in LA. They’re an odd band to work out, seemingly taking influence from an impressively wide range of bands. One minute, they sound like you’d expect by looking at them (not dissimilar to the likes of The Enemy and The Courteeners), the next you’ll think you can hear a subtle likeness to The Cure, and god knows what they’ll come out with next. Saying this, however confused it may be, their sound is established, and it’s fun. The whole thing was impressively high powered. Vocalist Martin Saunders bounced around the stage with the energy of a toddler having a sugar rush, while the rest of the band, though somewhat more subdued, played with just as impressive energy. As the band finished with Cloudy Room, a rather surprising number of the audience went with them. For a moment it seemed as though the majority had only wanted to see The Twang; that was until minutes before The Enemy were due to start, when the room filled up again: one final surge of people that resulted in the drinks that had been queued for for 20 minutes to be almost instantly knocked onto the floor.

The Enemy took to the stage, cool and collected. Kicking off their set with Aggro, it didn’t take long for the crowd to get rowdy. Within minutes, fights had started, phones had been taken – although not necessarily expected, people seemed ultimately unphased by such business. Phones, of course, are replaceable; seeing The Enemy is not. Running through a very impressive set of Saturday and Be Somebody, to playing Happy Birthday, Jane for someone who had supported them from their first ever gig, they were powerful and confident as always: Tom Clarke looked significantly healthier than earlier this year and the band had an all round sense of tightness. The band ventured into new song territory, trying out Magic. Luckily, it slotted seamlessly into the set, fitting perfectly between We’ll Live and Die in These Towns and Away From Here. The set as whole was anthemic; the band covered James’ Sit Down, while the audience, rather wobbly, attempted to sit down, despite the floor having become almost a swimming pool of beer. Finishing (almost) with You’re Not Alone, Tom Clarke announced he ‘didn’t want to finish’, and as the rest of the band departed, he launched into a cover of The Verve’s The Drugs Don’t Work: the perfect, albeit very emotional, comedown from the madness of the evening.