What was meant to be a straightforward first visit to Luton quickly turned into a road trip from hell for Lancaster’s TV Face, but when the dust settled, the sonic juggernauts delivered one of the most electric nights The Castle has seen in some time.
With town the first of a two-stop rare trip south, their journey began like any other tour leg, until the power steering on their van failed mid-motorway, leaving the band stranded in freezing conditions somewhere outside Stoke-on-Trent and facing a series of setbacks that included long waits for the AA, a failed repair attempt and a last-minute gear transfer into a hire van.
Amid that string of bad luck, the power trio revealed that there were impromptu dance-offs in service station car parks, a bruised thigh, and a good deal of near nervous breakdowns.
While, back in Luton, there was a great deal of ‘backstage’ nervous nail-biting with every update of their will-they-won’t-they adventure.
Not that the huddled hordes knew the half of it, such was skyscraping majesty of The Relights and the extended greatest hits sing-a-long of the wonderfully uncompromising Gaylips. But whispers of “they’re on their way” spread and the anticapation reached fever pitch.
Then, hauling themselves to their destination – or was it destiny? – remarkably just 15 minutes past their scheduled stage time, TV Face immediately ignited the room.
The band captured the delirium in a funny social media gig log post, writing: “Chants of ‘TEEE VEEE FAAAAACE’ propelled us out of the slightly delirious state we arrived in to euphoria. Turns out we wouldn’t have missed this gig for the world. What a day! What a night! What a wonderful whirled.”
Their post, a cheeky film poster homage to 80s cinematic comedy classic ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles‘, retitled ‘Automobiles, Automobiles and Automobiles’, captured the madness perfectly, with the tagline: “All they wanted to do was play a gig in Luton. What they got was chaos!”
Glorious, unbridled, supportive mayhem. That’s what this town offers when it takes bands to their hearts. And this night, support bands and all, was a heartwarming highlight. Championed for years by hometown show Vandalism Begins at Home Radio – partly why so many of their songs such as ‘Boots Pocket Coffin,’ ‘Get What We’re Given’ and ‘White Noise, White Lies’ from their exceptional second album ‘Wolf Rents Bark’ were so enthusiastically sung back to them – TV Face were crowned honorary Lutonians. And quick.
Ben Barry, one of the co-conspirator that collective, who brought the band to our door, praised the their determination and the atmosphere in the venue, saying afterwards: “TV Face had the kind of night that will stick in everyone’s memory. Despite everything that went wrong on the road, they were determined to get to Luton, came in full of energy, the crowd were with them every step. It reminded us exactly why we do this. Live music in Luton is very much alive ‘n’ kicking.”
The Castle and its crowd of fanatics have been leading that charge for some time now, emerging as a beacon to new music. And all within her walls on this magnificent night were treated to a performance full of raw energy, infectious banter and memorable hooks.
They declined the encore calls for “one more song” as all punks should, but they’d already cemented TV Face’s reputation as a formidable live act… and now one capable of turning disaster into triumph.
Vandalism Begins at Home follow up that show with another extravaganza of hand-picked noiseniks on Saturday April 4, headlined by firm Castle favourites, Coda Rushing.
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