The Ting Tings return to Leeds and play a catchy hour long set to a small yet involved audience in a smoke machine filled, blue-lit Belgrave Music Hall.
Katie White and Jules De Martino first brought their pop music to the world six years ago, with debut album 'We Started Nothing' selling over two million copies globally. Most of the eleven tracks played tonight are taken from their third and latest release 'Super Critical', with a further handful from the first LP and only two taken from their second and somewhat criticised album 'Sounds From Nowheresville'.
White took to the stage with gusto to join an already wound up De Martino, who had opened things rather nicely with a strong percussion intro to 'Wrong Club' and already had the crowd in sync. With a similar level of energy, White jumped around all over the place and together they ripped through their first thee high energy numbers without pausing, 'Shut Up and Let Me Go' being the gladly received cherry on the top.
Things slowed for a short while, giving the band a little time to breathe before packing a massive mid-gig punch with 'Great DJ', a song which had the whole place up and bouncing, including the band themselves - their accompanying DJ looked like he was having the time of his life, he and De Martino exchanging plenty of laughs as they belted out what is clearly one of their own favourites.
White has a huge stage presence - extremely helpful when you're only a two-piece. Her voice is strong throughout and very clear despite the racket going on around her. De Martino holds his own incredibly, too. Carrying the same vibe throughout the set with that which he opened, he could easily have managed things quite nicely as a one-piece had he needed to. They're quite the hypnotic duo, making sure the energy on stage reaches outward around the venue and with frequent hand-clapping encouragement, beckon everyone to come along for the ride.
The Ting Tings are commonly described as indie pop. I'd definitely say they are 'dancey', certainly if tonight's performance was anything to go by. Mainly to a 4/4 beat, their songs included thumping drums and simple yet addictive guitar melodies; in fairness, you'd be hard pushed not to bop along. There is very much a disco sound coming from their new tracks too, which featured funked up bass lines and White's voice displaying its melodic range rather than sticking with the ranting apparent in some of their earlier work.
An assortment of punters, including an obvious handful of dedicated fans, revelled in their performance from start to finish. Although the best was most definitely saved for last, where the band's encore saw De Martino join the DJ to deliver a souped-up version of 'Hands', which had White, the stage crew and indeed EVERYONE in the venue dancing like it was a late '80s rave. Rest of gig in mind, this was not at all what I had expected as a closing number, but a great lasting impression to leave with my fellow punters and I none the less.
FUTURE GIGS
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