Deciding to take the day off to travel to the seaside town of Margate to join in the 20 year celebration of tunng at Where Else? was an easy decision to make. Having never seen tunng before (I have seen Diagrams and Lump side-projects) I was happy to finally get the opportunity. Where Else? is a great old school community organised venue with a friendly intimate space downstairs. They have a number of fantastic musicians playing in the coming months the venue have established themselves with some excellent bookings.
Opening for tunng was William Doyle, a singer/songwriter who has written music under his own name and as East India Youth. William played a short set but I was only able to catch the last 3 songs. Although he said he was dusting off some old songs for his set he was able to hold the audience in rapt attention. William performed with his guitar and backing/drum track playing artistic pop, his vocals were absolutely lovely and the songs I got to hear were fantastic. Hopefully he will be on tour again soon as he is definitely worth catching live.
It is not a small feet of engineering for tunng and their six band members on the small stage with all of their equipment to fit on the stage. tunng started their set with ‘Death is the new sex’ from tunng Presents…Dead Club written during COVID reflecting the mood of that time with a lightness of touch. The band singing “Death in the new sex/Coming soon to fuck us all” somehow turning the tragedies of that time into a harmony filled incantation was a powerful opener in this shared space tonight. tunng followed this with ‘Didn’t know why’ with it’s nursery rhyme like repetition showcasing the harmonies of Mike, Becky Jacobs and Sam Genders. ‘Snails’ from their 2025 album Love you all over again was beautiful to hear live with the lines “We plant flowers in the Spring/Hoping they’ll come back again” striking a hopeful chord.
The next part of the set focused on songs from their debut album This is tunng…Mother’s Daughter and other songs with Mike introducing this by saying that some of these songs may have never been played live before or at least for a long time. ‘Beautiful and light’ about a heist has a darkness to the subject matter which doesn’t match the song’s gentler musical tone. tunng have the ability to catch you unaware, providing pleasant surprises the more you listen to them. They reel off ‘Song of the Sea’. ‘Fair Doreen’ which has a traditional folk style, ‘Code Breaker’ involves the addition of a pair of pliers (played by Ashley Bates in a break from his guitar and banjo duties) to the other instrumentation. ‘Surprise Me 44’ is the last of their songs from their first album played again showcasing their harmonies, their use of electronica and various percussive instruments (thanks to Phil Winter and Martin Smith) to beautiful effect.
The remainder of the set included songs from across some of their other 6 albums. tunng played ‘Anoraks’, their 2025 standalone single, which is largely spoken word (read by Sam) poem presenting a feverish type dream feels like a Lewis Carroll tale. ‘By Dusk we were in the city’ stood out for the screaming guitar solo by Mike as he swapped guitars with Ashley mid-song. As Mike responded to someone in the crowd shouting “Show-off!” at the end of his solo that the band only gave him one minute for the solo. ‘ABOP’ bounces along and has us all repeating the word “Magical!” together at the end of the song. ‘Hustle’ has Ashley on banjo is a catchy number, ‘The Roadside’ builds in intensity with Becky’s vocals taking centre stage and ‘Bullets’ is their finale.
The good natured joy of the collective that is tunng was evident throughout the set and the interactions with the crowd. As Mike Lindsey raised the question on everyone’s mind “How do you pronounce tunng?” he was met with various suggested pronunciations from band members. Although Mike told us it is pronounced to sound like Tongue this did not appear to be definitive. After performing for 20 years Mike jokingly said that the band members have been able to acquire multiple properties and gained fame and fortune on numerous arena tours before returning to their humbler roots. When someone from the audience asked if they had received a bonus Mike said that they hadn’t yet.
The band finished with an encore (without leaving the stage due to the size and layout of the venue) and stood in a line with the words We Are Not A Folk Band (one word on each member’s t-shirts). Resisting labels that have been placed on them by others and poking fun at the idea that they can be categorized quite so simply. tunng are not easily pigeonholed as they retain their playful nature of exploration, bending traditional sounds into shapes of their own making. In my view any band that can remain together for 20 years and produce music of such quality and depth deserve all of the riches they can gather.
Bandcamp: Music | William Doyle
Reviewed by Jason McDonald @jaygigphotos.bsky.social
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