Sunday 16 January 2011

Review: Tennis

I tend to be late for gigs. Pair this with a shortage in parking space around Schlesisches Tor and you end up showing up when the band is in their third song. And the band played a short set as it was with one encore, that's one song as an encore. Still, short but sweet, as they say.

Tennis is a group that allows you to time travel to 1965. The look, the sound, the feel - for me, this band embodies the pre-hippie 1960s. And this leads me to think of petticoats, the Beach Boys, teenagers making out at school fêtes, pastels and for some reason sunshine. All that stuff you see in the movies.

However, live Tennis are a much more mature affair. Frontwoman Alaina Moore is a serious singer with a womanly voice and not nearly as girly sweet as the recordings may suggest. She does little talking between songs and beautiful dance numbers during instrumental passages.
The stage presence of the band is also that of a serious group and draws a lot older audience than I may have expected. We did recognise faces from the Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast gigs but not nearly as many as we thought there may be. It appears Tennis play in another league - that of a group that doesn't just go for the spirit of the 60s but for a musical endeavour that appeals to people of all walks of live and across genres. I was surprised. Positively.

We stayed for a while after the performance was ended and soaked in the atmosphere of Comet Club. And we weren't the only ones. This wasn't the gig to be rushing to and from, this was a performance with a feel that would linger for a bit longer.

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