Terrorvision: Manchester Academy 2 – Live review

Terrorvision | The Bar Stool Preachers
Academy 2, Manchester
22nd September 2024

Terrorvision may not have supped from the fountain of eternal youth, but they’ve certainly discovered the key to rock ‘n’ roll longevity. Having burst onto the scene in the ’90s accruing a string of hits and a large, fanatical fanbase, the jovial West Yorkshire rockers split in 2001 before eventually returning to the fray with lighter touring schedules, occasional releases and side projects aplenty, both musical and otherwise.

In the case of singer Tony Wright, these famously took the form of Laika Dog and building dry stone walls, and he now runs a coffee shop/print studio in Otley as well as pursuing a successful solo career. Guitarist Mark Yates hung out with Blunderbuss and Boomville and bassist Leigh Marklew founded Malibu Stacey, releasing the excellent On Heat album. This measured approach has paid dividends as the band release their latest album, We Are Not Robots, and proved themselves still very much a force to be reckoned with. Behind the full beard, Tone retains his boyish enthusiasm and vitality, while bona fide axe-wielding rock god Yates has a Doctor Who-like panache for regeneration. Bass player extraordinaire, the sinewy Marklew, cheats by being a fitness fanatic, while excellent new drummer Chris Bussey (also formerly of Malibu Stacey) cheats even more by being younger than the rest. And so, thirty-odd years on from where it all began, Terrorvision hit the road once more.

Support at the Academy 2 tonight is provided by Brighton-based Bar Stool Preachers, who give us exactly what it says on the tin. Tub-thumping anthems dripping with meaning, life lessons and emotion are delivered with (literal) chest-thumping punk attitude and a broad smile on the face. The band have evidently brought along their own contingent to the show, but they soon win over the Terrorvision diehards who enthusiastically provide full-throated audience participation. The likes of Call Me On The Way Home and Choose My Friends go down a storm before the irrepressible Tom McFaull announces, “Where I come from in the heart of East London, we have what is known as a knees-up”, as the band finish off a short but entertaining set with the ska-infused signature tune, Bar Stool Preacher.

Terrorvision get the mirror ball rolling and the dance floor moving, appropriately enough, with the frantic Discotheque Wreck from 1994’s breakthrough How To Make Friends And Influence People; “I can mash potato, I can do the twist, Tell me Manchester, Do you like it like this?”, before rushing headlong into a rocking rendition of The Night That Lemmy Died, a heartfelt paean to the Motörhead hero and lead single from the new album. A manic Alice What’s The Matter follows before Tony acknowledges the joyous response with a customary “Shit ‘ot” and introduces the band; “We’re Terrorvision from Bradford” (replacing the short-lived intro “We’re Terrorvision from the ’90s” now that they’re justifiably feeling current again). It’s then back to the very start with a rollicking My House which, Tony explains with irrefutable logic, comes from the last millennium and is therefore 1,000 years old, so technically a folk song.

It could never be denied that Terrorvision know how to put on a show, and tonight is no exception. The blue and white We Are Not Robots backdrop is mirrored by much of the band members’ apparel. Marklew, collar turned up high, and keyboardist Milly Evans go for sartorial elegance while Yates can still get away with skin-hugging shirt displaying extensive tats. Tone goes informal with hooped t-shirt and is the only one to shun the shades. The sound and lighting are spot on as befits a band who may at times be a little silly but are also consummate professionals, making for the accomplished gig experience we’ve come to expect.

The crowd favourites come thick and fast, interspersed by the pick of the We Are Not Robots tracks. New Policy One, (which shows Tony has lost none of his boundless energy as he displays his unique moves), and American TV take us back to debut Formaldehyde and have everyone bouncing, and Josephine tells the tale of a reunion with an unexpected twist. A crazed Electrocuted has the room shaking to Bussey’s pounding drums before Tony ponders the idea of a “bunch of ne’er-do-wells” getting back in the charts; “Instead of T Swift, T Vision.” Back to back newbies in the shape of the poignant Baby Blue and upbeat You Gotta Want To Be Happy precede big hitters Middleman and Perseverance. The latter comes with sax and trumpet to the fore (real musicians, not backing tracks), and the whales and dolphins get the biggest cheer of the night so far. A devilishly good rendition of Lucifer brings us bang up to date again and Terrorvision’s punk track, If I Was You, sees Tone performing a knees-up of his own. Celebrity Hit List cranks up the pandemonium and the vocalist miraculously remembers all the words to Pretend Best Friend thirty years on, with a haunting trumpet recreating the original sound.

“Cheers Manchester, you were shit ‘ot” declares Tone as the band depart for the first time. Anyone hoping for a splash of Tequila will have been disappointed, but there’s only one song any self-respecting regular urban Terrorvision fan would want to round things off, and the band oblige with the joyous classic which is Oblivion. Every “Ooh wop bop ba doo wop” is bellowed out by the audience and a sea of waving arms accompanies the immortal and, as it turns out, prescient lines, “Oh goodness, my gracious, I hope it’s not contagious, although it seems it’s catching, it’s best not to get careless”, before Carly Simon serenades us out of the hall with an apt, if immodest, Nobody Does It Better. Thanks to Terrorvision for inviting us along for another ride in their wildly entertaining time machine and, as Tony Wright put it, “Here’s to the next 35 years.”

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Terrorvision links: Website | Instagram | Facebook | X

All words by Robin Boardman. More writing from Robin for Louder Than War can be found at his author’s archive.

All pictures by Andrew Pountney