Teenage Fanclub Winds Down their Tour by Cranking up the Volume with The Love Language in D.C.

On Saturday night at the 9:30 Club, beloved 90’s power popsters Teenage Fanclub wowed fans with a career spanning set which included a few unexpected surprises.

LA’s The Love Language, fronted by North Carolina native Stuart McLamb, opened the show with an 11-song set drawing from their three Merge Records full length albums, as well as their 2009 debut The Love Language for three tracks. McLamb along with brother Jordan McLamb, on keyboards, blazed through “New Amsterdam”, “Frames” and “Castle in the Sky”, all taken from 2018’s Baby Grand.

*Stuart McLamb was all about the guitars Saturday night at the 930 Club.*

By the time they got to “Providence” from their 2009 Bladen County Records debut, one female fan was seen in the audience doing some serious air drumming and dancing like there was no tomorrow. About midway through their set, McLamb gave props to multiple family members, who’d made the trek to D.C. to catch the next to last show of the tour. The fast pace kept up right on through to set closer, “Calm Down” from 2013’s Ruby Red, which ended in a scorching feedback laden jam.

The Love Language performs “Calm Down” at the 930 Club

Then, 90’s Scottish indie rockers Teenage Fanclub took the stage around 10:15 and played a 19-song fan pleasing set which spanned their nearly 3-decade career. They opened with “About You”, the first track off 1995’s Grand Prix. After flawless versions of “Start Again” and “The Cabbage”, they played their just released single “Everything is Falling Apart” featuring the electronic flourishes of Euros Childs of the psychedelic pop band, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Childs is a touring member of the band, and his keyboards gives earlier tracks a fuller, lusher sound.

*Norman Blake was all smiles Saturday night at the 930 Club.*

*Euros Childs on keyboards with Teenage Fanclub*

They reached back to their 1990 debut for title track “A Catholic Education” followed by “Alcoholiday” from the classic 1991 follow-up Bandwagonesque. Norman Blake told the crowd that they hadn’t played “Baby Lee” the entire North American tour and hadn’t rehearsed the song. However, they delivered a faithful version of the track from their 2010 Merge Records release Shadows. As the main set wound down, they gave the crowd exceptional versions of “Versimilitude” and “My Uptight Life”, the latter taken from 2000’s Howdy. The set ended with “The Concept”, a near 90’s anthem.

They left the stage only for moments, before returning to play a three-song encore which featured an unexpected impromptu addition of “What You Do To Me” followed by their first single, “Everything Flows” resulting in back-up vocals provided by the crowd. As the band left the stage, Norman Blake gave guitar picks to three lucky children who were front and center on the barricade all night long with their parents.