My first time seeing the Fannies and I had a blast - such a great show and the setlist was spot on (although I would have loved Neil Jung - another guy in the audience was screaming for it too). The Bowery Ballroom is a great place to see bands - you are never very far away from the action and there are multiple bars. We saw X there a few years ago, so knew the layout and ended up standing in about the same spot as then - upstairs on the balcony, just behind the soundboard. We had a straight on view of the band and could lean up against the salad bar shield surrounding the soundboard guys.
TF are such a democratic band - they rotate through Norman/Gerry/Ray songs in order, never playing two straight of one songwriter. I tend to like Norman's and Gerry's songs best, but you can't help but love Ray too - his lead guitar work was fantastic and LOUD. They do not explore much musically - the songs are played exactly as they sound on recordings, which is fine with me. This is pure Scottish power pop at its best - simple melodies, generally love-song lyrics - but it comes together live just fine. Norman is the only one that banters with the audience, and even that is not much. He seems like a nice, shy guy - definitely not a rock star.
The audience was a mix of ages - plenty of "older guys" like me, but quite a few young people too. TF seem to be a hit with young Asian females too - there were many. There were a few fanatic couples up front at the stage that danced and screamed throughout - the band got a kick out of them. My wife knew next to nothing about the band other than what I play in the house, but she had a good time. Better than when I dragged her to The Feelies a few years ago and the audience was all old guys dressed in black.
Great show.
