Simon Rushworth
@ Gateshead The Three Tuns, November 25 2009
There are few better rock and roll venues in the North East right now than Gateshead’s The Three Tuns so stick one of the region’s finest emerging rock and roll bands on the stage and it’s a recipe for success.
Or at least it should be.
There’s no accounting for the gremlins which can destroy a set with one mean spirited swipe. And for a while it seemed Fables would be the latest unlucky foursome to fall prey to every band’s worst nightmare.
When Twiggy’s guitar disappeared from the mix during the magnificent Japanese Rain it just didn’t look like it was going to happen for the Scandinavian-bound sleaze rock upstarts.
Phil The Beat’s admirable drum solo might have provided him with some crucial practice ahead of next Friday’s slot with fellow North Eastern hopes Remedy, at Hard Rock Hell III, but it wasn’t part of the plan.
Poor Twiggy later admitted he felt like pulling his hair out but destroying a mop like that? It was only a dodgy amp for heaven’s sake.
Perhaps Fables wouldn’t have recovered this time last year but these days Roachie and the boys are seasoned campaigners and consummate performers. The delay simply pre-empted a typically slick show in front of a suitably impressed crowd.
Wrapping up with Where Does The Music Go was either ironic or inspired. Wherever it went, it was always there, and these lads play music the way it should be played.