THE LEMON TWIGS – Botanique, Brussels – 25 November 2016
Music junkies among us already know by now that THE LEMON TWIGS are the next big thing. And this time the hype is genuinely substantiated. This is a dazzlingly promising four-piece of teenagers from Long Island, New York led by brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario. Two extremely talented youngsters and, obviously, owners of an extensive record collection of all things great from the 60s to the 80s. From The Beatles to Queen, from Wings to Todd Rundgen, from Elton John’s balladry to Frank Zappa‘s jocose trickery
and all memorable pop and rock vibrations in between. Retro? Absolutely, but in a most genial way. At times you can hear snippets of all this magic in just one song. Sheer stellar creativity. They succeed where thousands failed before, because these yesterday’s sounds obsessed bros do not just copy/paste history. They compose rock opera like brilliance with the past’s very best era’s. They do not write songs, they build them brick by brick, they construct them step by step into something really special. If you didn’t hear it already check brand new album DO HOLLYWOOD here to find out what I try to stutter…
.
To be honest I had some doubts about the band reproducing their richly arranged and orchestrated pearls live on stage without falling apart now and then. They proved me wrong, completely. Without the safety and help of tapes, special digital effects or other extra whatsoever assistance (pretty common now these days) they stunned the sold out 200 capacity club from start to finish. The songs sounded more basic and rougher than on record and it worked big time! The intensity of execution was just overwhelming. The first half of the set felt like a Broadway musical with songs bouncing from slow to fast, from up to down, from quiet to loud, from harmonies to screams. AWESOME! The second part of the concert, after the d’Addario’s swapped instruments (drums/guitar), was an adrenalin injected rock & roll blast with Micheal moving like a classic guitar hero while handling his instrument like Chuck Berry. First class, elevating entertainment. WOW! Double WOW!
And these fresh punks bring it all with a high dose of natural coolness and unshakable confidence as if they do this since the day they jumped out of their rocking cradle. The
Lemon Twigs are on their way to meganess. They gonna be huge, really huge. …
Melodic splendor…
Doing a Berry walk…
A singing snake
Harmonies intermezzo…
From a whisper to a scream
Band meeting
Trapped in Brussels
(concert pics by TurnUpTheVolume!)
Best debut album of the year!…
It was Michael who donned the guitar during the second half of the show. Brian does the first half. NICE review though!!!
Oops… distracted – thx for telling me, will correct – greetz JL