Review: An emphatic return for Turbowolf at the O2 Academy
- Genre-defying Bristolians Turbowolf brought their noisy shenanigans to Birmingham’s O2 Academy on Wednesday October 28th 2015
- Supporting acts Loom and Beasts were in tow – both receiving mixed reactions
Loom opened the night in a subdued room, to their frontman’s apparent frustration. Their sound is a doom-punk, reminiscent of early Horrors but with less energy and more misery.
Loom
A one-man circle pit is certainly a rare sight, but that’s what Loom’s frontman appeared to instigate before effectively assaulting crowd members at the bar, shoving a couple of them to the ground. Attitude and emotion in your performance is one thing, but it’s unclear as to whether everyone would appreciate these antics. It’s certainly a maverick performance and does suit the bands rough and ready sound, but not everyone will be sympathetic to the act.
Beasts
Poor Beasts didn’t really stand a chance. Their entire set was beset with technical problems from the outset and they struggled to get going, stalling and stuttering their way through much of the set. Throughout, the possibility of another hiccup was visibly unsettling them and it wasn’t until the end of their set that their gear settled down. The penultimate song of the set is too late to really get started, and too late for the crowd to really appreciate what could have been. Beasts are a tight band with energetic vocals and interesting riffs, but they lost the battle to their own equipment.
Turbowolf
The crowd was more than ready for Turbowolf to take the stage. Since much of the audience already knew all the words, it wouldn’t have taken very much work to get them on side but Turbowolf gave it everything regardless, making for a genuine spectacle and sonic assault unlike much else. Frontman Chris Georgiadis engages the crowd with a witty and whimsical conversational style, delivering instructions on safe gig enjoyment, before belting out lyrics and throwing shapes like Mick Jagger imbued with the energy of Daffy Duck at a rage-peak. Like Loom before them, Turbowolf have a maverick frontman, but Georgiadis’ method works.
Turbowolf
Turbowolf as a group expend more energy in a single concert than some bands do in their whole careers. That’s not to say their set lacks dynamics, as they will comfortably thrash out 2-minutes of frenzy before calming the room with ambient synth sounds. They never seem uncomfortable with any of their dramatic tonal shifts, a testament to their individual musical skills and collective tightness. They’re remarkably tight, fusing traditional rock progressions and esoteric, math-y timings with effectiveness and ease.
Turbowolf
To list all of the sounds that Turbowolf have fused together – hardcore, metal, electronica, psychedelia being the most obvious – would take a long time. When they ignite on stage, all that becomes unimportant. They are only Turbowolf: indefinable, interminable and bloody good fun.
Photographs by Stephanie Evans
View the full set here.
