Trudy and the Romance, Her's, Tiny Trees: EBGBs, Liverpool

Trudy and the Romance

As Trudy and the Romance fill EBGBs with their brand of doo-wop, Getintothis’ Amaan Khan observes the bobbing heads in the audience.

Tonight marks a kind of homecoming for Trudy and the Romance as they celebrate casually with the community that saw them become the happening name that they are today.

Trudy and the Romance sounds like the 50s have come back as a zombie. They are reminiscent without feeling outdated. As a matter of fact, their on-stage no-care-for-coolness eccentricity feels fresh in a decade in which strangeness and outlandishness in rock ‘n’ roll has become unsurprising and mundane.

While carrying on their usual looseness in performance and sound, what has improved over time is the band’s voice acting. With hard hit drums, rockabilly guitar played with punk carelessness over steady basslines, the band go through their usual set of tunes and some new additions.

In between we are treated to a Trudy-ish cover of Elvis’ I Want You, I Need You, I Love You, chilled vibes of Albatross by Fleetwood Mac and their usual fast tempo backbeats and light-humoured attitudes.

Contrary to the various shows they have done as support acts, this time the audience has come specially for the band and naturally their well known tracks like Baby, I’m Blue get sung along while the crammed-in crowd members in the basement bob their heads to every fast tempo song they play.

Although the very uniqueness of Trudy and The Romance might not make them the most easily digestible band in town – we won’t blame you (though we might not drink with you) if you don’t see them as a part of your staple diet – the doo-wop trio provide a great excuse to let out your retro dance moves.

Support on the night comes first from Tiny Trees who cushion our way into the evening with their well balanced sound. The five piece outfit starts out with soft psychedelic textures and grows increasingly intense with every song. It will be worthwhile to see the band become a more engaging act as they progress with their career.

Between Tiny Trees and Trudy and The Romance are the SXSW-returned Her’s, who are in proper form tonight and treat the audience to some well-written earworms that come off as anthems in the small basement full of well-engaged people. Their short and morphed into their own-style take on Prince‘s Raspberry Beret and their own catchy What Once Was will go down as one of the highlights of the evening.