Tuesday 16/10/07 The Thrills @ Oran Mor, Glasgow

The Thrills might have called their latest album ‘Teenager’ – and make their entrance to the Shangri-La’s dramatic teen-pop classic ‘Remember (Walking in the Sand)’ – but from the audience at tonight’s gig it’s clear their appeal is much wider than that.  Yes, there are plenty of teenagers in attendance - but there are also the ones who probably were teenagers in 2001 when the first album came out, not to mention the older couples who are quite likely mums and dads of teenagers themselves.

Hanging on to his microphone, the lanky, skinny Conor Deasy welcomes the audience and he’s clearly glad to be here, and wishes the Scottish football team luck in their game the next night which has the crowd in the palm of his hand. The band can whisk you away to a sunnier place in a matter of seconds – as the audience sings along to first-album hit ‘Big Sur’ it’s easy to imagine that just outside the door are golden sands instead of a cold, blustery Autumn night.

But The Thrills’ real trick is to pick up on the kind of nostalgic subjects of love and longing; perfect teenage subjects but ones which, no matter what age, anyone can remember and relate to. Playing through summer’s comeback single ‘Nothing Changes Around Here’ and older track ‘One Horse Town’ – about that Springsteenesque need to get out of Dodge – to the wistful beauty of ‘Til the Tide Creeps In’ the band targets the adolescent in all of us and it works.

It’s clear from the cheer that greets ‘Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?’ that the audience has been waiting for it all night. And isn’t that just like a perfect teenage date? – holding out all night, but saving the best bit, the kiss on the doorstep moment, for last.