The Lemon Twigs Played Lowlands 2018 With a Chimp Concept Album Six Days Away

Six days before releasing a rock musical about a chimpanzee raised as a human boy, The Lemon Twigs played a 14-song set at Lowlands festival in the Netherlands in 2018. Brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario swapped instruments, traded lead vocals and raced through material from two albums: their debut 'Do Hollywood' and the then-forthcoming 'Go to School.'

The set landed at an odd moment in the band's calendar. 'Go to School' — the chimpanzee concept record — was still unreleased, which meant the crowd heard new songs before they officially existed on wax (a concept album being a record built around a single narrative). That's a risk at a festival, where audiences mostly know the hits. The brothers took it anyway.

What did the set actually sound like?

According to the review that accompanied the video, the show was 'gloriously unpredictable.' Two moments stood out. 'I Wanna Prove to You' delivered what the writer called 'vintage pop sparkle,' while 'The Fire' stretched the band's 'theatrical imagination' — a hint of the narrative ambition that 'Go to School' would make explicit days later.

The overall read on the performance: a band 'blending classic harmonies, restless creativity and the kind of musical chemistry only siblings can summon together,' running from 'Foolin' Around' to 'As Long as We Are Together.'

The full Lowlands 2018 setlist

• 'Foolin' Around'
• 'Why Didn't You Say That?'
• 'I Wanna Prove to You'
• 'Never in My Arms, Always in My Heart'
• 'The Lesson'
• 'Small Victories'
• 'Queen of My School'
• 'Never Know'
• 'The Fire'
• 'Sounds a Bit Like a Bach Piece'
• 'Home of a Heart (The Woods)'
• 'These Words'
• 'Tailor Made'
• 'As Long as We Are Together'

Look at that list and the band's shape becomes clear. Fourteen songs, none of them padded. A title like 'Sounds a Bit Like a Bach Piece' tells you the brothers wear their baroque-pop influences (rock arrangements borrowed from classical forms) on their sleeve, while 'Queen of My School' previews the schoolyard theatricality that drives the chimp narrative on 'Go to School.'

Why the sibling mechanism matters

The instrument-swapping is the detail worth holding onto. When Brian and Michael D'Addario trade guitars, drums and lead vocals mid-set, the audience can't pin the band's sound to one frontman. Both brothers carry songs; both write. That fluidity is the engine behind the harmonies the review singles out — the close, family-made vocal blend that studio bands often assemble from session singers, the Twigs get for free.

What does this change for the listener? Mostly, it frames 'Go to School' as a plan rather than a leap. A band confident enough to test theatrical new songs at a Dutch festival six days before release was already operating as a two-brother repertory company, not a conventional rock quartet. The Lowlands set is the record's proof of concept.