Mean Fiddler
23.11.06
In terms of publicity, it’s arguably preferable for a band to incite feelings of either love or hate from their audience, as opposed to mere indifference. Towers Of London definitely reside in the former camp, but tonight they’re an aloof, uninspired shadow of their usual snotty-nosed selves.
With notoriously volatile singer Donny Tourette seemingly anchored to his mic stand for the first few songs. ‘Air Guitar’ and ‘How Rude She Was’ go down predictably well with the Towers faithful, but there’s just not enough fire in their performance to tempt anyone else away from the bar.
Fact is, the Backyard Babies do this kind of thing far better, and boast more than enough trashy sleaze-punk anthems in their armoury to unleash a virtual greatest-hits set on this adoring crowd. It matters little that their Hanoi Rocks/G’n’R/Ramones shtick has changed so little in the last few years, when old favourites like ‘UFO Romeo’ and ‘Star War’ rub up so well against choice cuts from this year’s excellent ‘People Like People Like People Like Us’ album. The sight of singer/guitarist Nicke Borg breaking out an acoustic guitar for ‘Roads’ is a relative surprise, but otherwise these Swedes are heads-down rock n’ roll fun of the highest order – and they could certainly teach today’s young pretenders a lesson or two in longevity.