This past Friday night was a bitter sweet landmark for the boys in Teenage Kicks.

Not too long ago, fans found out that this show would be the last time that guitarist Pat Marchent and bassist Jeff van Helvoort would be playing as part of the TK troop. But the pair went out guns blazing, and the rest of the boys proved that this wouldn’t be the end of them, playing strongly at one of their biggest shows to date.

Naturally, the guys got the crowd warmed up with a few already-loved songs off their two EPs. They quickly switched gears and treated us all to a few new tracks, stomping out any fire of suspicion that their sudden line-up change could mean a goodbye to the whole band. These new songs were everything that people look to Teenage Kicks for: honest, timeless and catchy. And although the crowd was loving them, even frontman Peter van Helvoort could tell that everyone was itching for some more that they could sing along to. He then promised, “One more new song and it’ll be back to the old ones.”

Maybe it was the anticipation, or maybe it was that the boys chose the exact right songs to save for the last half of their set, but you could feel the energy in the room rise once they started playing tracks that their fans could recognize once again. The crowd turned into a full out choir for the opening of “Brooklyn Bridge”, and I’m pretty sure that “Shook Our Bones” started a near riot. I think it’s safe to say that all of it was egged on by Peter who, I have to say, has got to be the definition of “frontman”. Whether he was swinging his mic stand around, beckoning for the crowd to sing for him, or even jumping right into the crowd sing with them – it was always effortlessly powerful and charismatic.

The boys wrapped up the night perfectly with a cover of Proud Mary that reflected exactly the kind of timeless rock and roll that Teenage Kicks have been working hard on making.

Even though it’s sad to see two familiar faces go, OTM wishes all the best to Pat and Jeff – we hope this won’t be the last we hear of them. We definitely can’t wait to see what Teenage Kicks has for us next.

Photography by Scott Pearson