THE gutter twins

I think he’s making Mark Lanegan uncomfortable. The taller man stands statuesque, gripping the mike stand with both his hands like a man possessed by The Fear. I think I know what he’s scared of: the music that was so powerful on their Saturnalia LP is somehow being rendered flat. They play every track from the album, even opening with the two tracks that open the album. They throw in a couple of covers to break it up, but even idiosyncratic selections like Jose Gonzales’ “Down the Line” and Massive Attack’s “Live With Me” are barely distinguishable from a flat opening. The set is divided roughly in half by the encore, but upon returning it seems like we’re in for more of the same when the Twins reappear with former Tricky collaborator Martina Topley-Bird in tow, reprising her guest appearance on the album for encore opener “The Body”. On the album her voice lends the song an ethereal quality, but in a live setting she’s gets lost in a fog of noise. However, having now played every song from ‘Saturnalia’, the duo are free to start delving into their back catalogues, and it is here where the performances really come alive. First up we have “River Rise”, the opening track from Lanegan’s “Whiskey for the Holy Ghost” - and it’s the highpoint of the night, as Lanegan begins to ignore Dulli’s posturing and gets comfortably discordant. This new swagger continues into the Twilight Singers’ “Papillion”, which is blended with a snatch of Screaming Trees’ “Shadow of the Season”. With Lanegan now asserting his presence, his rumbling “Methamphetamine Blues” is another high. Dulli may have the moves, but by the end of the night, it’s clear Lanegan is the star in this gutter.