TC AND I
LIVE at SWINDON ARTS CENTRE
29TH OCTOBER 2018
According to online sources, Swindon's history can allegedly be traced back to anglo-saxon times when this very English settlement was known as Swine Dun (or Pig Hill). It existed as a market and bartering centre before the Industrial Revolution headed south in the mid 19th century and the area reinvented itself as a railway town with the aid of civil engineer and visionary Isambard Kingdom Brunel, whose Swindon Works maintained the locomotives passing through.
Reinvention has been at the beating heart of unfashionable workaday Swindon's more recent history - the old railway workshops may have dwindled but many old buildings remain, albeit full of coffee shops, offices and a museum. XTC spent 30 years in existence before folding officially in 2006. With co-founder Andy Partridge settling down to a life of curating the band's catalogue, faithfully repackaging key albums with love and care (with recent hints of new solo material), a live representation of some of the songs has been left to the odd tribute act, mainly across the pond.
Until now.
Very much NOT a tribute act, TC and I is formed of drummer Terry Chambers and bassist and songwriter Colin Moulding. In 2017 they reconvened when Chambers moved back to Wiltshire after many years in Australia and set about rehearsing and releasing an EP of new material, Great Aspirations. It's off the back of this renewed interest from the pair, the fans and critics that live shows were somewhat inevitable. Six of them in their hometown is probably more than they bargained for.
The gigs focus on Moulding's not inconsiderable share of the XTC songwriting spoils, filled with a few surprises. The opening song Say It was one such unexpected inclusion - beginning with Moulding's last recorded song for the band, it sets the tone for an evening of self-effacing and quintessentially down-to-earth songs that tug at the heartstrings as well as the brain.
Earlier songs such as That Is The Way, Ten Feet Tall and Day In Day Out sat comfortably alongside later compositions Where Did The Ordinary People Go and Smartest Monkeys, as well as EP tracks Kenny, Scatter Me and Greatness, strengthening the affirmation that XTC songs are truly timeless, even when rearranged to suit the evening and the venue. Throughout the evening, I'm sure I wasn't alone in wishing Terry would 'let go' and give those drums a damned good toeing but his dextrousness was still very much in evidence and the entire band were on their game, without resorting to too much reinventing the wheel.
Highlights included pretty much the entire set, but in particular the soulful reading of Wonderland (possibly channeling Moulding's inner Al Green), the vibrant rouser Generals and Majors and song of the night Bungalow, delivered as an elegiac ballad. I certainly had something in my eye at one point - honest.
By this time the band had settled into a groove and closed the evening out with the ubiquitous classic Making Plans For Nigel, a dedication to "Mr P" in the shape of Statue of Liberty and a bracing jaunt through Life Begins At The Hop. Only King For a Day failed to 'go off' - it's a tricky song to replicate without Paul Fox's magic sprinkled all over it, although another Oranges and Lemons song Cynical Days was tellingly transformed. Skylarking was represented well with Sacrificial Bonfire, Grass, Big Day and The Meeting Place sounding as bright as the day I first heard them over 30 years ago.
The concert didn't stop at 10:15 - there was something of a mini-convention afterwards in the foyer with 75% of the fans queuing up for pics and a chat with Colin and Terry well towards midnight.
Tonight was that rare thing - a reformation (after a fashion) that bettered expectations by some margin, bolstered by Moulding's humble eloquence and good-humoured parlance with the equally respectful audience.
A triumphant night!
LIVE at SWINDON ARTS CENTRE
29TH OCTOBER 2018
Reinvention has been at the beating heart of unfashionable workaday Swindon's more recent history - the old railway workshops may have dwindled but many old buildings remain, albeit full of coffee shops, offices and a museum. XTC spent 30 years in existence before folding officially in 2006. With co-founder Andy Partridge settling down to a life of curating the band's catalogue, faithfully repackaging key albums with love and care (with recent hints of new solo material), a live representation of some of the songs has been left to the odd tribute act, mainly across the pond.
Until now.
Very much NOT a tribute act, TC and I is formed of drummer Terry Chambers and bassist and songwriter Colin Moulding. In 2017 they reconvened when Chambers moved back to Wiltshire after many years in Australia and set about rehearsing and releasing an EP of new material, Great Aspirations. It's off the back of this renewed interest from the pair, the fans and critics that live shows were somewhat inevitable. Six of them in their hometown is probably more than they bargained for.
Earlier songs such as That Is The Way, Ten Feet Tall and Day In Day Out sat comfortably alongside later compositions Where Did The Ordinary People Go and Smartest Monkeys, as well as EP tracks Kenny, Scatter Me and Greatness, strengthening the affirmation that XTC songs are truly timeless, even when rearranged to suit the evening and the venue. Throughout the evening, I'm sure I wasn't alone in wishing Terry would 'let go' and give those drums a damned good toeing but his dextrousness was still very much in evidence and the entire band were on their game, without resorting to too much reinventing the wheel.
Highlights included pretty much the entire set, but in particular the soulful reading of Wonderland (possibly channeling Moulding's inner Al Green), the vibrant rouser Generals and Majors and song of the night Bungalow, delivered as an elegiac ballad. I certainly had something in my eye at one point - honest.
By this time the band had settled into a groove and closed the evening out with the ubiquitous classic Making Plans For Nigel, a dedication to "Mr P" in the shape of Statue of Liberty and a bracing jaunt through Life Begins At The Hop. Only King For a Day failed to 'go off' - it's a tricky song to replicate without Paul Fox's magic sprinkled all over it, although another Oranges and Lemons song Cynical Days was tellingly transformed. Skylarking was represented well with Sacrificial Bonfire, Grass, Big Day and The Meeting Place sounding as bright as the day I first heard them over 30 years ago.
The concert didn't stop at 10:15 - there was something of a mini-convention afterwards in the foyer with 75% of the fans queuing up for pics and a chat with Colin and Terry well towards midnight.
Tonight was that rare thing - a reformation (after a fashion) that bettered expectations by some margin, bolstered by Moulding's humble eloquence and good-humoured parlance with the equally respectful audience.
A triumphant night!
