Review: The Temperance Movement, Think Tank, Newcastle - Journal Live

THROW together five of classic rock’s rising stars and one of Tyneside’s most talked about new venues and a match made in live music heaven was always on the cards.

The Temperance Movement’s retro-fuelled one night residency at Newcastle’s rustic Think Tank didn’t disappoint.

This was one of those ‘I was there’ moments that simply won’t be repeated in 2013.

Within months The Temperance Movement, with their long beards, wistful songs and fierce ambition, will be far too big a band for the intimate Think Tank.

Arenas beckon for British rock’s next big thing. Where Kings Of Leon and Mumford And Sons have led, expect this brilliant quintet to follow.

Right now the underground clubs of the UK’s vibrant music scene are their home, but come June they’ll be rubbing shoulders with Bruce Springsteen, The Black Crowes, Alabama Shakes et al at London’s Hard Rock Calling.

In truth, that’s exactly where The Temperance Movement already belong.

Touring on the back of the five-track Pride EP – the band’s debut album will drop in September – it’s not as if the UK’s answer to Rival Sons can fall back on a bulging back catalogue.

But it’s quality, rather than quantity, that has carried the band to the brink of a major breakthrough and those high profile festival slots.

Songs like the Planet Rock-approved Only Friend bristle with confidence and maturity far beyond TTM’s tender years as a songwriting unit.

Add a spine-tingling unplugged twist, Paul Sayer’s pedal steel turn and singer Phil Campbell’s mesmerising moves (most men just don’t bend that way) and it’s little wonder the crowd was calling for more long after the final notes of Serenity drifted into the night.

And there will be more. A second leg of UK dates through June and July have just been announced and then the album will drop.

Come September this band will be big, big news and no classic rock fan’s collection will be complete without what promises to be one of 2013’s must-have collections.

Temperance is futile. The temptation’s too great.

Simon Rushworth