Teenage Fanclub + Euros Childs @ Concorde 2, Brighton 5th November 2026
Teenage Fanclub arrive in Brighton as part of their tour to promote their latest album, Do Not Dare To Dream. Support is provided by their keyboard player, Euros Childs, who is a solo artist in his own right, as well as having previously been the leader of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. In addition, he has a side project with Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake called Jonny. So, all in all, Euros is a very busy boy.
His onstage presentation tonight is very simple: just him and his keyboards. Bells and whistles are notable by their complete absence. I’ve never seen Euros play solo before, and what I’ve heard of his solo work sounds a lot like Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, although that is largely down to his distinctive vocals. As a solo artist, he has been incredibly prolific, having released a whopping twenty-one albums.
One thing that was always noticeable about Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci was the humour in their lyrics. This is clearly still applicable to Euros’ solo material. My Colander, for example, is about falling in love with a colander. I mean, who’s never done that? It also contains an unexpected musical quotation from The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar.
I had intended to jokingly shout out for Poodle Rockin’ by Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. The reason for this is that, of all the songs in the Gorky’s canon, this is the one that Euros would be least likely to play, at least in my opinion. Not because it’s a bad song. Far from it, but because it is a bit silly, albeit in a good way. Anyway, blow me down, he goes and plays it without the merest hint of encouragement from me, complete with the dog yelps and howls! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you really ought to listen to it.
Happy Coma, meanwhile, is about an unhappily married couple escaping from each other because the husband is in a coma. It has to be said that the comedy here is a little on the dark side. The I Don’t Like It Song is about all of the things in life that the narrator doesn’t like, which is just about everything. I’m assuming (hoping!) that the song isn’t autobiographical! Euros’ short set gives us a skimming-stone trip through his solo catalogue. It’s great stuff, and I shall definitely be investigating further.
There’s a break of around half an hour or so before Euros reappears with the rest of Teenage Fanclub. It seems strange to think of them as being an ‘older’ band now, with most of them having just about nudged into their sixties. Be that as it may, they certainly still sound young.
The band have reached a stage in their career where they have a legion of fans who want to hear ‘the old stuff’. The new material is certainly more than tolerated, but I don’t think that a large chunk of the new album played in succession would necessarily be well received.
Thus, we get an opening triumvirate of Tired Of Being Alone (from their previous album, Nothing Lasts Forever), About You (from their 1995 album Grand Prix) and the classic Metal Baby (from 1991’s Bandwagonesque). Having got themselves and the audience warmed up, they can think about doing a couple of songs from the new album.
Tomorrow People quite honestly sounds as if it could have been recorded at any point during the last thirty years. It has that feeling of classicism about it, whilst simultaneously sounding fresh. There’s a superb keyboard interlude from Euros Childs, whose playing certainly brings a different aspect to the band’s sound. Day In The Sun, meanwhile, features a stunning guitar solo from Raymond McGinley. His playing is unfussy but effective.
Falling Into The Sun features a keyboard intro followed by a false start. Drummer Francis Macdonald has dropped a stick. The rest of the band stare at him, grinning, as he restarts. So there’s no pressure then! There is, however, a cool dual lead guitar solo.
Norman Blake straps on an acoustic guitar and announces that they’re “going to have an acoustic section, because we’ve heard that they’re cool”. What this actually means is that Norman is playing acoustic guitar on Mellow Doubt and I Don’t Want Control Of You. Everybody else remains as they were.
Over And Over is another song off the new album. It features a cool keyboard solo and outro from Euros, together with some quite stunning harmonies. Everyone in the band sings backing vocals, and the effect is awesome. They sound like they could be siblings.
Raymond McGinley has a relatively rare lead vocal spot on Everything Is Falling Apart, which is followed in short order by Start Again, with its occasional bars in a different time signature that knock the listener off balance. They play the intro to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust for a laugh before heading into a classic of their own: The Concept. With its lengthy guitar solo and instrumental passage, it sounds like it’s being played by Neil Young and Crazy Horse!
That closes the main set, but they’re soon back onstage for Endless Arcade and Can’t Feel My Soul, before Everything Flows from their debut album, A Catholic Education. This is a song that has been a fixture of Teenage Fanclub shows since their earliest days.
Apart from getting a sense of just how good the Fannies’ back catalogue is, and how good their newer material is too, the main thing that comes across is just how much the band love what they do. Long may that continue.
WORDS & PHOTOS: MARK KELLY
