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Buenos Aires is a city that I am exceptionally fond of. Back in May/June 2008, my wife (girlfriend at the time) and I spent a month living in an apartment in the Palermo Viejo district of the city at the end of 1-year travelling around the world.
After a year of almost constant travel and not really staying anywhere more than 4-6 days, it was great to have a base. We embraced living in the city - joining our local gym, hanging out in the bars and cafes and wandering around museums and (Evita's) graveyards.
Ice cold Quilmes beer, incredible red wine, the best steak ever (we went to La Cabrera - a traditional parrillas - 3 times it was so good!) , Tango in the streets, Boca v River, River v San Lorenzo, a 2-day trip to Iguazu Falls, United beating Chelsea in the Champions League final ... I have so many good memories.
So, I was excited for Teenage Fanclub when the band announced that their South American tour would include a visit to Buenos Aires for the very first time. I thoroughly enjoyed the bands Instagram updates from Brazil and Argentina. It looked like they had a blast, played their hearts out and felt the passion from their South American fans. There is a mini-documentary in the making! If they go back I'll offer to go and make it!
Speaking of which, Juan Marioni from Buenos Aires is a member of the Teenage Fanclub Fanclub who I have become friends with online. Juan is a very talented musician - check Juan's Bandcamp page for his Norman, Raymond and Gerry EP's of cover versions and also his Songs of Teenage Fanclub covers album.
I love Juan's versions. There is something about songs originating in Bellshill making their way across the world and being covered that warms my heart.
Juan has been waiting to see his favourite band for quite some time! So, I asked if he would write a blog on the experience. Now that Juan has had time to recover, he has written a beautifully passionate, funny (I laughed out loud at the Mongolia section) and soulful blog that portrays his deep love for the band.
I'm all in if the band make it back to Argentina! If my wife and kids let me! Maybe we will all go!
Guest blog - 1,130,112,000 seconds. Teenage Fanclub live in Buenos Aires.
1 130 112 000 seconds. That's how long it took Teenage Fanclub to play in Argentina. Yes, I double-checked the calculation. The time that passed from their live debut on November 17, 1989, until they finally stepped onto the stage of C ART MEDIA on September 9, 2025. A wait full of disappointments and "almosts" that never were, but which, in the end, turned into pure glory. This is the story of how, after so long, everything came together so we could celebrate our love fest with the band.
A while ago, I found out that back in 2011, my beloved Teenage Fanclub had played in Brazil. Missing the possibility of (maybe) travelling and seeing them wasn't the biggest disappointment; the real heartbreak was not having known about their visit to a "nearby" country. Social media wasn't what it is today. The taste turned even more bitter when I was told they had already been there in 2004, "close" to my neighborhood. I say "close" in quotes because Brazil is not that close, and São Paulo is 2,238.8 km from Buenos Aires, a distance similar to the one that separates Bellshill from Rome.
But hope is never lost. Around that time (2014), Lollapalooza began to be held in Argentina, and I thought that was my chance. Thanks to that "industry monster," I was able to see Johnny Marr that same year, who, by the grace of some divinity, did a sideshow—going to a festival with 1500 bands in less than 12 hours is an ordeal for me and my back. Every time a new edition was announced, the first thing I did was read the fine print on the flyer looking for the shows "less interesting to the public," but Teenage Fanclub never appeared on the lineup. The possibility of seeing them at a proper venue was fading. At that point, I would have settled for a 20-minute set at 4 p.m. on stage number 7 of said festival... or another.
Then, Gerry's departure made me doubt whether the band would continue, and the 2020 pandemic arrived. The years went by. Until one day in 2024, I read in an Instagram post: "Teenage Fanclub in... Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia." "No, now that's it," I thought. "They're never coming to Argentina!" Outrage! They play in Mongolia—and I have nothing against Mongolians, I love them!—but if there's a distant, inhospitable place with no visible rock culture, that's the definition of Mongolia. I swear I gave up then. I thought my only chance would be to travel to the UK or Europe at some point to catch one of their tours, like my friend and colleague from Los Andes, Sebastián Rubin, who saw them in 2018.
They say miracles exist, and in 2025, a light of hope emerged. At the beginning of the year, the São Paulo date for September was announced, and I started planning a trip to Brazil. The planets seemed to align—they didn't play Planets at the show, the 1st absence from the setlist—:
I feel the planets surround me
They gather 'round me
A little later, I found out through "secret sources" that "it seems Teenage is coming to Buenos Aires"... At last! From having to travel 2100 km to São Paulo to taking the bus for three stops to get to the venue, it was truly a sign that God—if he existed—thought of Argentinians this time—God Knows It's True... the second major absence from the setlist.
Seeing Teenage Fanclub live was one of those pivotal moments in my life that I will never forget, an event I waited more than 34 years for. As a fan, as a musician, as a person. Since 1992, when I fell under the spell of Bandwagonesque, I've been waiting for them. Because that's what it is, ladies and gentlemen: a spell these guys have cast on me—and on so many others around the world. And what better than they themselves in Baby Lee - another one missing from last night's repertoire...—to explain what they did to me: I'm enchanted, I've fallen under your spell How can I resist When you cast them so well? And yesterday, it happened. Teenage Fanclub in Buenos Aires! The owners of the recipe, the creators of the special sauce.
The build-up and the show
Before the main event, Sebastián Arpesella played and gave a soft and delicate show. A former member of Grand Prix, my colleague Rubin's band in the '90s, who was invited onto the stage and reunited for a self-tribute, performing two songs. The anxiety was growing, and on my way to the bathroom, I saw Euros Childs listening to the opening band. I managed to say hello; he was the only member of the band I could get close to. I didn't make him uncomfortable with my fanaticism, I just thanked him for being here.
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Around 9 p.m., the assistant with his flashlight, like a Bat-Signal, announced to the sound engineer that the start of the show was imminent. And so it was: the guys came on, and emotion flooded me. I was three metres from the security barrier, seeing my idols in person for the first time. The concert kicked off with Tired of Being Alone and I sang all the lyrics, sometimes phonetically, and I was already losing my voice! I thought to myself, "I'm seeing them! They're right there!" Then, the first classic, About You and the first ovation came. What I didn't like was the change in key; I think there are songs that are very difficult to lower in tone, and this is one of them.
The first part of the set, with Ray at the front, continued with Endless Arcade which was the best version of the first three songs, with its Barrett-esque psychedelic influences. Previously, Norman made the first greeting, thanking the audience and acknowledging that it had taken them 36 years to be here.
Now it was Norman's turn to take the lead vocals. When he plays an D major, I speculate out loud: Norman 3! But I was wrong, it was the turn of The Cabbage one of my favorites from Thirteen, an album I love and enjoyed a lot at the time—it was the first one I bought contemporary to its release. A highlight was Ray's minimalist solo with the classic rock lick that XTC calls Ernie.
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Then came the second big ovation with Alcoholiday and I told my friends Fer and Pablo, "This is the riff of my youth" when the song gets heavy metal, before all I know is all I know.... The "Norman set" closed with the beautiful I Don't Want Control of You which, to my taste, sounded a bit more subdued than the recorded version, less brilliant. Let's grant that the album version is practically unbeatable!
During the video Barby Recanati (see below) did with Ray via Zoom before the show, he mentioned that he was a fan of Syd Barrett and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. And at this concert, I started to detect details in their songs! I already mentioned it in Endless Arcade and in Everything Is Falling Apart the next song, that feeling of a mantra that abounds in their compositions appeared. The solo, which uses the Mixolydian scale, transported me to other landscapes. At the end of the version, Euros added a detail that isn't on the album, and the song started to sound like Kraftwerk (!).
There was a change of instruments: Norman on bass, guitar with capo for Dave, and Fender Telecaster with open tuning for Ray. The audience chanted "Ole, ole, ole, Teenage Fanclub!", and 120 Mins arrived. Raymond at his best, another of my all-time favorites, with lyrics that resonated with me in those years: I don't wanna be alone, I don't wanna be well known. Great work by Dave on the lead guitar; I think that was "his moment."
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It continued with It's All in My Mind another "new" classic. Super tight, in my opinion, one of their best songs: minimalist and modern. And we got to Metal Baby People were dancing and singing, and the group shone with another furious version, with a very Rolling Stones ending.
At this point, I was surprised by how the band sounded. I didn't imagine they were so precise and that they rocked this way live. Francis is the engine and has the right beat, at the necessary volume. In this big venue, he came through with power and precision.
Norman said something about Raymond showing us the use of the wah-wah. We speculated among the nearby audience, like people in the bleachers at a soccer match, about which song would follow. I guessed that It's a Bad World was coming, another high point in Raymond's repertoire.
What You Do to Me followed, and the crowd exploded, chanting from start to finish and even generating a small but lively mosh pit. By this point, we were already surrendered to the Fanclub, and the musicians were seduced by the Argentine audience.
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I imagined that—since they had said they would play classics for being their first show—they would perform Your Love Is the Place, in my opinion, Raymond's highest point. So I let myself be carried away by this song, although, to my taste, the tempo was a bit slow and I was expecting a more energetic version.
A friend and former student, Santi, approached me and hugged me at the start of I'm in Love. The first thing he said to me was: "I'm in ecstasy," and he perfectly described my feeling. I borrow his words. I get distracted and chat with him for a while, so the song, which is short on its own, flies by.
The final stretch and the encores
There's a moment of "rest" after so much high, and I think the beautiful version of Middle of My Mind also serves as a breather for the musicians; it sounds better live than on the album. As a digression, there were no vinyls in the merch, which I think is a great shame, since here it's very expensive to get a record. And well, for now, I'll continue without having Nothing Lasts Forever.
Now we enter the final stretch and another peak moment: someone from the audience asks for it, and Norman grants it, Neil Jung. The "stadium" came down, and the group delighted in the crowd's singing of the solo melody, which continued even after the song ended. The band applauded their Argentine audience. Raymond now tells us: The World'll Be OK and we returned to the psychedelic side, alternating a yin-yang of atmospheres with the previous and the next song: The Concept.
And the concept is Norman's melodies, which have that je ne sais quoi, that touch that makes them eternal, irresistible, and that cut before the coda in which time seems to be suspended and is eternal... and the coda itself, one of the most beautiful in the history of rock, I dare say, only surpassed by Hey Jude. Again, the audience sang in ecstasy, Ray's enormous solo, and the end. Ovation and chants asking for what Norman had already announced before starting the song: they're leaving, but they're coming back.
As far as I'm concerned, they should keep going, because there are many more songs I'd like to hear. The chosen ones for the encores were Back in the Day, Falling into the Sun and Mellow Doubt - a gift for the people, since I haven't seen them play it as an encore on another setlist, although I could be wrong.
And we got to the farewell. Norman genuinely thanked them for having come down to Argentina and told us that they had wanted to do it for a long time, but it hadn't happened. Today it did, and I hope they come back soon, because we need them. Everything Flows is the classic final song of every show for a while now. A priority, you know it, but you have to experience it, you have to live it! I was in Flow mode after the demolishing ending, a few inches off the ground.
Several friends and former students approached me and repeated the same words: "Thanks to you, I'm here today." The evangelism bore fruit, and although we're not a gigantic crowd, yesterday more than 1000 of us, Argentine Fannies, had our moment of glory, our celebration of love for the band. And we gave them the warmth we have on this side of the world and, from what I felt, it was more than enough for our heroes on stage.
I waited a long time, and yesterday it happened. Teenage Fanclub in Buenos Aires: beautiful, emotional, long-awaited, unique.
Setlist
Tired of Being Alone / About You / Endless Arcade / The Cabbage / Alcoholiday / I Don't Want Control of You / Everything Is Falling Apart /120 Mins / It's All in My Mind / Metal Baby / It's a Bad World / What You Do to Me / Your Love Is the Place / I'm in Love / Middle of My Mind / Neil Jung / The World'll Be OK / The Concept
Encores Back in the Day / Falling into the Sun / Mellow Doubt / Everything Flows
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