Templeman & Headon shine at Troubador
Hearts were palpitating in fervorous excitement Tuesday night at the Troubadour, which offered a homely haven from the pouring rain just outside the West Hollywood music venue. “2 British Friends 1 North America” is the slogan for Alfie Templeman and Thomas Headon’s joint 2022 tour — and a very fitting one, as their friendship and support for one another radiated throughout each of their sets.
Their friendship began as organically as all pandemic friendships did — through the internet. Members of the indie scene, they supported each other’s work online before finally meeting in person. This inevitably led to a collaboration and in 2021 they released a song together, along with Chloe Moriondo, called “Dizzy.” Flash forward a year later and the pair decided to tour North America together.
Before they’d even come onstage, girls’ squeals were heard as the band members gave friendly waves from the backstage room above. Templeman opened the night with all the catchy, sugary buzz of “Candyfloss,” one of his favorite songs to perform live from his debut album “Mellow Moon” which came out earlier this year.
Kicks, jumps and spins between his carefree dancing raised the energy of the room right from the start. Templeman’s infallible charisma combined with his upbeat sound left fans with no choice but to give in to the music and dance their hearts out, or, as he put it, “boogie”! Concertgoers were rewarded with a new unreleased song called “Eyes Wide Shut” which he teased as having “a bit of a Kubrick vibe to it.”
The nineteen-year-old singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist also delighted long-time fans with the songs “Movies” and “Circles” from his 2019 “Don’t Go Wasting Time” EP, plus multiple others from his viral 2020 EP “Happiness in Liquid Form.” Some of these songs hadn’t been on the setlist for his last show in L.A. at the Roxy.
This time around, the well-lit crowd, disco ball and decadent aromas from nearby food vendors created a vastly different atmosphere. Templeman finished his set off strong with “3D Feelings,” a song that effortlessly flaunts his talented singing and stellar songwriting, encapsulating “Mellow Moon”’s danceable melodies and lyrics’ underlying themes of comforting yet painful nostalgia. After setting the dancing tone for the night and hyping up his friend, he warmly conceded the stage to Headon.
While Templeman set his guitar down for a maximum 10 seconds during his set, Headon picked up his guitar for only a couple of songs. This suited his performance style better since it gave him more liberty to move around (and off) the stage as he pleased. At one point in the show, he climbed on top of the drum set and got down on the ground with the crowd.
Headon’s interactions with the crowd also included various instructions to follow, such as chants, crouching and raising hands in a rock n’ roll sign. His top Spotify songs “Clean Me Up,” “Strawberry Kisses” and “UrbanAngel1999” made it to the setlist. He invited those who didn’t know his lyrics to sing along to his covers of the Hannah Montana theme song “The Best of Both Worlds” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” He also pleasantly surprised fans with a new song titled “Georgia” which was released the next day.
To say Headon’s set was individualistic would be an understatement. If he wasn’t dancing literally on his guitarist, he kept busy by sticking his tongue out at people, asking about their coffee intake, making extended eye contact with everyone in the crowd, touching people’s heads in the front row, complimenting their hats or grabbing their hands.
Once he’d gotten his fill of fangirl screams and felt like he’d broken enough hearts, Headon closed the night by gracefully requesting a round of applause for his bandmates and Templeman’s, then thanked the audience for taking the time to come to the show. Sadly, fans were left longing to see them both share the stage since they didn’t perform “Dizzy,” probably because they couldn’t without Moriondo. Who knows though, there’s always next year.