The Ting Tings @ The ULU

The Ting Tings

ULU 

 

 

Call me a bit of a pessimist but for all the hype surrounding Salford duo The Ting Tings I didn’t expect them to amount to much live.  However as most pessimists experience from time to time, I was surprised and would even go so far as to say I was impressed! On the last night of their first UK headline tour, The Ting Tings rocked with their guitar, drums, loop pedals and unique vocal display, courtesy of Katie White and Jules De Martino.   Quite a feat by the Mancunian ‘ones to watch’ who, with only their debut album under their belts, kept the audience guessing until the very end.  

From the second they appeared on stage, (Katie in ever-present hat and Jules in ever-present sunnies), they performed with ferocity and seemed to be reveling in the enjoyment of their music.  In front of a very mixed crowd to say the least, they crammed a high-energy performance into their 45-minute set making every song resonate throughout the venue.  Kicking off with probably their most notorious release to date ‘Great DJ’ Katie’s vocal performance blasted into the crowd with the crowd chanting the lyrics back. 

This energy-starting opener was immediately followed by ‘Fruit Machine’, which Katie delivered with such ferociousness mixing up playing guitar, singing and jumping around the stage to each and every ‘kerching’ of the chorus.  Another crowd pleaser and by the end of this song the venue was alive and kicking.

Much of the set was based around somewhat unknown material from debut album release ‘We Started Nothing’, not that it failed to capture peoples attention, the electro backing tracks met with instrument swapping and ferocious enthusiasm kept everyone dancing.  “Keep your head” has a Debbie Harry style vocal and demonstrates the mix of genres the duo touch on throughout their record, not necessarily conforming to the garage-pop label they have been labeled with.

An impressive Ting Tings take on the ubiquitous slow song was provided once Katie had requested a bit of quiet to set the tone of the song ‘Traffic Light’.  Her voice was engaging as she sung about love in the context of traffic and we were treated to a demonstration of Katie’s vocal ability, a far cry from the shouty dance floor fillers they are so famous for.

‘That’s not my name’ was the penultimate offering, a song that until now I had always found highly irritating.  But live, their extended version blew my preconceptions right out the water.  The energy was immense and even the mature students at the union had progressed from their foot tapping/head bobbing to jumping up and down.  The song was brought to a crescendo with Katie banging the ‘Ting Tings’ emblazoned drum with prowess and then exercising similar gusto with a cowbell.  This perfectly delivered performance created the party atmosphere they notoriously strive for, and the cries for more were met with the encore of ‘we started nothing’.  Ever the perfectionist and a more accomplished guitarist than many critics give her credit for, Katie requested a change of guitar as the tuning was out after 2 false starts.  But third time lucky they kicked it off for one final jam of the night fusing falsetto vocals with Jules’ frantic drumming before heading off probably to congratulate themselves on an awesome final night.  

Yeah sure sometimes the stage looked a little bare in the absence of anyone else, but through the uncomplicated yet creative music and the fact that they look like they are having the time of their lives, it didn’t matter.  Their enthusiasm was defining and it was hard to take your eyes off from Katie as she worked her stage and her audience.  The weight of expectation of their critics and fans alike was carried well and it was vividly apparent that these two are not going to disappear into the music abyss anytime soon. 

Reviewer - Francesca Strange