The Review - MUSIC - grooves with ROISIN GADELRAB Published: 28 August 2008
Steve Mack on stage at the Boston Arms
Emotional return as Petrol-heads get their fill
REVIEW: THAT PETROL EMOTION
Dirty Water Club
FORGET the Led Zeppelin reunion. Or the My Bloody Valentine comeback shows. There was only one band that the sold-out crowd at the Boston Arms’ Music Room wanted to see, and they’d been waiting a long time to see them.
It’s 14 years since That Petrol Emotion played together on stage. In that time the band’s fans have got married, had children, and never quite forgotten.
The Northern Irish/London pop-indie five-piece, born in the 1980s out of the ashes of pop-punk legends The Undertones, somehow didn’t ever hit the big time, but were John Peel favourites and still make the eyes mist over for music fans of a certain age.
The band chose Tufnell Park as the venue for their first public show since 1994.
And they didn’t disappoint, hitting their stride with second-song Gnaw Mark and tearing through songs like Hey Venus to a frantically appreciative crowd. “Give us a break, we’re ****ing old,” quipped singer Steve Mack before launching into Last of the True Believers. They didn’t sound old and got the sort of crowd reaction that much younger bands would sell their souls for.
It was a happy crowd that left. That Petrol Emotion are back. And they’re still burning. ALAN STAFFORD
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