Review of The New Mendicants on the Crabbies Hothouse Stage Stage at Belladrum, 8 th of August, 2014.
The New Mendicants are effectively a shared passion; a shared passion of music from Joe Pernice and Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake.
This meeting of musical minds provides that their joint collaboration is cemented with a strong bond. It has more than an element of a tour through back catalogue and other former bands. Teenage Fanclub are obviously prominent in its base but it does not portray itself as self-indulgent nostalgia but a reinvention of those older numbers.
It was the introduction of Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Baby Lee’ that planted the seed of growing appreciation in the set. ‘Mellowed Out’ in fact just summed up the vibe that they were permeating.
However, the sound was somewhat lost in the cavernous tent as the duo sat behind their mics. A smaller more intimate stage would have suited them more, by that I mean a non-festival setting. Early in the set they were conscious of the overspill of noise from the roller disco but this wasn’t affecting enjoyment.
Overall the set created a warmth for the audience that had sheltered from the rain in the tent. For the Teenage Fanclub aficionados it would no doubt have been all that little warmer.
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