Terrorvision Live at Project House in Leeds, Live Review by Rob Johnson
While Britpop was seemingly taking over the world in the 90s, there were several British bands that were adjacent to the Cool Britannia scene whilst also very much doing their own thing. Along with Reef and The Wildhearts, Terrorvision offered something a little heavier than the 60s-influenced sunshine pop of Britpop. Combining big hooks and big choruses in a style more indebted to 90s alternative rock than anything conjured up on these shores, the Bradford band enjoyed a run of success that took in no less than 13 top-40 singles and four beloved albums culminating in their biggest chart success and eventual albatross ‘Tequila’ – a remix of which was only kept off the number one spot by The Offspring’s ‘Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)’ – what a time to be alive.
The band initially split up in 2001 but reformed in 2005 and has performed on and off ever since. 2024 has seen the release of their seventh studio album We Are Not Robots resulting in what was almost a hometown show at Leeds’ Project House – a new venue purpose-built for live music (definitely not ‘Prospect House’ – a random housing block in Leeds City Centre that one of our party accidentally navigated us to initially).
Terrorvision takes to the stage to rapturous applause and wastes no time in getting the party started with a mammoth rendition of ‘Discotheque Wreck’. New song ‘The Night That Lemmy Died’ confirms the band’s rock ‘n’ roll credentials before a trio of old classics (‘Alice What’s the Matter’, ‘My House’ and ‘What Makes You Tick’) ensures that lead singer Tony Wright has the sizable crowd eating out of his hand. It helps that Wright still loves these songs and relishes the opportunity to perform them in front of an adoring crowd. It’s an energetic performance from a natural-born frontman.
Fan favourites ‘American TV’ and ‘Josephine’ are treated like old friends, the latter inspiring a particularly stirring singalong, before ‘D’Ya Wanna Go Faster’, the sole representative from late-era record Shaving Peaches, brings the noise. It’s one of the many tracks on the night that makes more sense performed live than it does on record. ‘Perseverance’ was the band’s biggest hit other than ‘Tequila’, charting at number five back in February of 1996, and for my money, it’s Terrorvision’s finest hour. It sounds gigantic bouncing around Project House and the crowd respond in kind. It was a massive song for me as a kid and it’s a genuine pleasure to see it performed live for the first time.
‘Celebrity Hit List’ and a celebratory ‘Pretend Best Friend’ close out the first part of the set before the band return to the stage for a final run-through of ‘Oblivion’, pointedly ignoring ‘Tequila’ in a move that hints to the band’s troubled relationship with their biggest hit. There are no complaints from the crowd. We are here for the hits, yes, but also for everything else. The riffs. Wright’s infectious stage presence. To recapture an era that seems just out of reach now despite being more ubiquitous in the public psyche than ever following the reformation of Oasis. And Terrorvision deliver. Of course they do, they always have.
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