Gig review: Therapy? - Infernal Love Tour, Northumbria University, 27/02/16

Therapy? - Infernal Love Tour, Northumbria University, 27/02/16

Much like the subject of today's review, I don't like repeating myself. I wrote a glowing review of Therapy? last time they graced my hometown, so I'm going to have to think of a fresh approach which doesn't rely on me heaping praise on a band you've never heard of in a vain attempt to sound clever. Let's face it, that's all I ever really do since I rarely go see bands that I don't like. Having ran out of superlatives in my last review of a Therapy? gig in Newcastle, I'll try to keep this one objective, factual and brief. Here are some facts, most or which relate in some way to the events of Saturday 27^th February:

• I love Therapy? They've been there for me through every major event of my life since I was 15 and their name works on more than one level for me. I have a tattoo of their logo on my arm.
• Tonight they were playing their 1995 album Infernal Love from start to finish, as part of an ongoing 20-year celebration. It's a fan favourite these days, having been largely unappreciated on release.
• While Troublegum was the album which stole my heart, Infernal Love was the first one I bought.
• This makes me feel old.
• I met some friends in Trillians before the show. Drinks were downed. We moved on to The Five Swans by mistake.
• The Five Swans was full of posh looking, extremely rude students who were dressed like they had just returned from a fox hunt or Tory conference. And people watching rugby.
• 'Hunt' rhymes with the word I used to describe them. Realising our mistake, we left in search of food (two drinks later).
• The kebab wraps in Munchies are spectacular and I wish I had another one right now.
• The venue was worryingly empty when we arrived.
• Opening band The Membranes didn't play terribly well, were let down by some questionable sound, but were more interesting than 90% of the other punk bands of their era. More cerebral than snotty, their influence on Therapy? is obvious.
• With the absolute minimum amount of fucking about, Therapy? played Infernal Love from start to finish.
• It was glorious.
• 'Me Vs. You' is an incredibly sinister piece of music and they should play it more often.
• Their 'encore' was an entire set of other songs, starting with 'Still Hurts', taking in 'Potato Junkie', 'Tides', 'Teethgrinder', 'Helpless, Still Lost', and 'Screamager' among others on the way to a resounding 'Nowhere'.
• Jumping up and down on the spot is fucking exhausting.
• I can't sing but that doesn't stop me from trying.
• Two days later, my actions of the night of the 27^th are still causing me some pain.
• It is entirely possible that I'm too old for this shit.

Ok, that was easy. I'll try to stay objective from here to the end.

They played impeccably well. Rhythm section Michael McKeegan and Neil Cooper do so much more than simply keep time; the fat bass sound and drumming flourishes add so much to the dark personality Andy Cairns brings to the guitar and vocals. This is a band in top form: tight, precise and clearly still loving being on stage even at this point in their lives. Promising to return to a city they apparently have a lot of affection for, they are grateful to an impressed crowd (which thankfully filled out a lot) and even throw in a cover of The Police's 'Message In A Bottle' to say thank you.

It's unlikely that they'll do a tour to celebrate the less loved Semi-Detached album, or any of their subsequent releases for that matter, but if they do you know where I'll be.

I grow weary of this objectivity (not that I did a very good job of it...) . It's my review and I can sound clever with words like hyperbole all I want! Therapy? are untouchable. There's a good reason they remain my favourite band after all these years, and I won't get tired of repeating myself about them. Until next year...