Gig played on 24/07/06

Listening to "Star Sign" by Teenage Fanclub tonight, it seems unlikely that Gerry Love realised the significance of the words he was writing back in 1991. "If these things change your day. Well if this song makes your day…" he offers with the same cool charm as he did then. Now, on a furiously hot evening 15 years later, Love must surely recognise that is exactly what has happened, time and again both for The Fanclub and for us. Moreover, "Bandwagonesque", the album from which it is taken, commands a lofty status in 2006 that they should hold close to their hearts. That's the very reason we're here.

For the second year running, this summer's "Don't Look Back" series of gigs showcases a selection of LPs from rock and pop yore that have developed an exulted, adoring following. In some cases for good reason, although the blueprint - Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds", "Forever Changes" by Love etc - is looking a little skeletal this time around. "Bandwagonesque", however, has a magic that lights sparks in people's eyes and tonight we see the LP played from start to finish, with original drummer Brendon O'Hare behind the kit for the first time in many moons.

O'Hare was last seen by your Yahoo! Music correspondent spaced out of his mind playing with Mogwai ten years ago at the Colchester Arts Centre, a show the art-rockers have since admitted to being a drugged-up car crash. O'Hare left Teenage Fanclub acrimoniously two years after "Bandwagonesque", and as the group chime through the LP here, it's easy to see where it probably went wrong. These are songs of lazy innocence and befuddled desire, free of anything more conflicting or confusing than a smile from a beautiful girl, wearing denim and loving Status Quo, or mixing beer with your gear.

The three core members of Teenage Fanclub - Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and Love - were long ago recognised as great songwriters in their own right. So it was that "Bandwagonesque", their long-haired, muck about gang idealism and a love of Big Star, big guitars and The Byrds, miraculously found them standing toe-to-toe with Nirvana's "Nevermind", My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" et al in 1991. Tonight, the entire experience is the highlight, from a killer opening burst of "The Concept" to the gliding psychedelic heroics of "Is This Music", mis-firing drum machine and all.

The controlled thrashing of "Satan" is reflected against the string-inflected melodies of an aching "December", while the careless, doomed romance of "Alcoholiday" conjures memories that will mean everything to the people here and probably nothing to anyone else. The band may look older but their masterpiece still sounds pure and free, as Love brings "Star Sign" to a close with the words "Heard it all before, heard it all before…" Yeah, we've all heard "Bandwagonesque" many, many times. But never like this.

by Ben Gilbert