San Diego’s Delta Spirit return to the Europe for the second time this year on mission to get their name heard, this time armed with a more extensive tour schedule. In the UK word has yet to peak about their refreshing take on alternative country, while support slots with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Cold War Kids have gone some way to raise the bands US profile. Ticket sales tonight have resulted in Bathgate indie Topshop oiks The Harringtons being promoted to headline slot. Still on tonight’s evidence it wont be long before Delta Spirit are selling out venues like King Tuts, and The Harringtons are but a distant bad memory.
Delta Spirit appear your typical alt. folk band facial hair and plaid shirts intact, but do not let that fool they bring a original sense to the whole scene. Frontman Matt Vasquez’s rough croak is as unique as it is engrossing as he creates a feel reminiscent of singers from ‘60’s folk movements. It does not stop with the former busker, Vasquez is backed by an equally equipped band whose tendency to break into triple percussion attacks only add to bands live appeal.
The band seem excited to be back at Tuts being more than encouraged by recognising faces from two months prior. The returning crowd members share a similar excitement and are thoroughly rewarded when they break into outstanding cover of Tom Waits ‘San Diego Serenade’, which Vasquez proudly announces is about their hometown.
Closer the protest era Dylan-esque ‘People Turn Around’ starts off slowly but builds up to see the band leave on high before, The Harringtons lower the tone. The bands performance tonight will certainly draw many more of the crowd back to see them on return to Glasgow, and with festival season just around the corner they will certainly be on the list for one to look out for.
Monday, 30 March 2009
Sunday, 15 March 2009
Lily Allen @ Academy 14/3/09
It seems a day never goes by where Lily Allen is not in the public eye, the latest celebrity slagging or new love interest which ever apparently matters to us most at that specific time. But with all this attention it seems to have been forgotten why she came to the publics attention first of all, her music. Debut album Alright, Still’s sunny ska-pop sound brightened up the summer of 2006 leaving people from all over the musical spectrum with a smile on their face. Latest offering It’s Not Me, It’s You sees a new slimmer, more glamorous Lily take a more electronic path. Yet, while maintaining that poppy appeal it lacks the sunny freshness that the debut brought.
Tonight sees Lily in her usual stage capacity as she exchanges words with the crowd like they are friends down the pub, while sipping from a wine glass containing what appears to be cider. Onstage she maintains her refreshing ignorance to the attention that is thrust her way, it all seems to by pass her as she chats about tomorrows forthcoming cup final.
Disappointingly the set is short of older material as only three pre-It’s Not Me It’s You tracks make it in, even classic LDN is harshly cut short as they try jam every song from the new record into the show. The new songs do not lack appeal but you do find yourself longing for a Friday Night with each new track leaving you appreciating how good her debut was. Lily herself is on her game as she struts about in her now trademark trainers and dress willing her ‘friends’ to sing along to every word.
The show itself is strong and most, like the press, seem to be lapping up everything Lily does. Yes, the old songs are few and far between but the new songs have their charm and the lack of a brass section might not do the older tracks justice. Still the gig taken on first hand is highly enjoyable and closing on her superb yet trouble-ridden cover of Britney’s Womanizer ends the set on a high. Let’s face it could have been much worse, she could have played Alfie.
Tonight sees Lily in her usual stage capacity as she exchanges words with the crowd like they are friends down the pub, while sipping from a wine glass containing what appears to be cider. Onstage she maintains her refreshing ignorance to the attention that is thrust her way, it all seems to by pass her as she chats about tomorrows forthcoming cup final.
Disappointingly the set is short of older material as only three pre-It’s Not Me It’s You tracks make it in, even classic LDN is harshly cut short as they try jam every song from the new record into the show. The new songs do not lack appeal but you do find yourself longing for a Friday Night with each new track leaving you appreciating how good her debut was. Lily herself is on her game as she struts about in her now trademark trainers and dress willing her ‘friends’ to sing along to every word.
The show itself is strong and most, like the press, seem to be lapping up everything Lily does. Yes, the old songs are few and far between but the new songs have their charm and the lack of a brass section might not do the older tracks justice. Still the gig taken on first hand is highly enjoyable and closing on her superb yet trouble-ridden cover of Britney’s Womanizer ends the set on a high. Let’s face it could have been much worse, she could have played Alfie.
Friday, 6 March 2009
Franz Ferdinand @ Barrowlands 5/3/09
Tonight is the second homecoming night for a band needing to justify who is the biggest Glasgow band, and with the illustrious ballroom that is the Barrowlands they could not ask for a more ideal location. Tonight does not come with the excitement it could following a new album that could so easily have passed under the radar and with Franz being a common sight around the city, despite two of them residing outside Glasgow. Still the prospect of hearing the tracks that won over almost the whole country is enough to sell out the venue twice and surely more.
Support tonight comes from the latest California buzz band The Soft Pack whose main column filler has come from a controversial name change. Formerly The Muslims they changed their name following violent attacks from idiots who believed them to be either racists or terrorists. The band has won praise for their music too drawing comparisons with lists of illustrious acts. Either way they have gained a name for themselves and their current tour schedule goes some way to prove it, with this support slot is followed by full US and UK headline tours, and dates at SXSW, ATP and Primavera.
Tonight the band seems bedazzled by an almost static crowd impatient to see their heroes. They appear rigid and unenthusiastic as if they had given up on winning over the audience, possibly down to a poor reception the previous night. However they get through the set without expelling too much energy and get off as fast as they can, that is not to say they were bad possibly in their own environment a band like this would thrive. You can see evidence in their songs where comparisons with bands like Pavement and The Strokes have come. It is easy to see how tracks like closers ‘Parasites’ and ‘Nightlife’ could be loved by those who have adopted that alternative indie scene. Tonight The Soft Pack do themselves no justice and the majority of the crowd wont go as far as learning their name.
Franz as expected enter to the complete opposite reception, it is as if you are back in 2004 when they won over multitudes of fans with their sing-a-long brand of post punk. Just the word ‘Glasgow’ leaving Alex’s lips are enough to draw a euphoric response from the crowd as if the city is welcoming home its own kings.
The set itself is its usual enjoyable yet shambolic Franz Ferdinand affair, but that is what it always was. The band flows through a set of old and new with each song receiving an up roaring retort from this excitable crowd. The odd duff note and Alex not being able to hit notes he would have five years ago go almost unnoticed as the crowd sing along to every word. The thing is, in Glasgow at least, Franz will always be forgiven these mistakes it is the way they have always been. Now they are getting old some pushing forty, they can be given even more scope but what they have done for the reputation of Glasgow music will assure they are always loved. As I leave a show packed full classic tracks and joyful hero worshipers it is clear who Glasgow’s biggest band are, and I think the band knows it too.
Support tonight comes from the latest California buzz band The Soft Pack whose main column filler has come from a controversial name change. Formerly The Muslims they changed their name following violent attacks from idiots who believed them to be either racists or terrorists. The band has won praise for their music too drawing comparisons with lists of illustrious acts. Either way they have gained a name for themselves and their current tour schedule goes some way to prove it, with this support slot is followed by full US and UK headline tours, and dates at SXSW, ATP and Primavera.
Tonight the band seems bedazzled by an almost static crowd impatient to see their heroes. They appear rigid and unenthusiastic as if they had given up on winning over the audience, possibly down to a poor reception the previous night. However they get through the set without expelling too much energy and get off as fast as they can, that is not to say they were bad possibly in their own environment a band like this would thrive. You can see evidence in their songs where comparisons with bands like Pavement and The Strokes have come. It is easy to see how tracks like closers ‘Parasites’ and ‘Nightlife’ could be loved by those who have adopted that alternative indie scene. Tonight The Soft Pack do themselves no justice and the majority of the crowd wont go as far as learning their name.
Franz as expected enter to the complete opposite reception, it is as if you are back in 2004 when they won over multitudes of fans with their sing-a-long brand of post punk. Just the word ‘Glasgow’ leaving Alex’s lips are enough to draw a euphoric response from the crowd as if the city is welcoming home its own kings.
The set itself is its usual enjoyable yet shambolic Franz Ferdinand affair, but that is what it always was. The band flows through a set of old and new with each song receiving an up roaring retort from this excitable crowd. The odd duff note and Alex not being able to hit notes he would have five years ago go almost unnoticed as the crowd sing along to every word. The thing is, in Glasgow at least, Franz will always be forgiven these mistakes it is the way they have always been. Now they are getting old some pushing forty, they can be given even more scope but what they have done for the reputation of Glasgow music will assure they are always loved. As I leave a show packed full classic tracks and joyful hero worshipers it is clear who Glasgow’s biggest band are, and I think the band knows it too.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
David Byrne @ Royal Concert Hall 31/3/09
‘Does anybody like Dumbarton?’ I heard shouted at Connect a couple of years ago, why anybody would do such a thing? The answer is simple: David Byrne. Tonight I got to see exactly why this man could bring somebody to like a place such as Dumbarton without even visiting the place.
The Royal Concert Hall has a bizarre feel to it as a gig venue. Entering through a bewilderingly large foyer into what appears to be an airport check-in, expensive bar and gift shops with complete with ‘no food of drink past this point’ signs. The hall itself feels more like a conference room than a venue for a pop concert. This is all forgotten when the lights go out and the homecoming hero enters the stage.
Byrne and his band appear dressed in all white as if there is something all round clean and innocent about them, and there is as Byrne just appears a nice old man. Byrne addresses the crowd with his intent for tonight’s show, announcing the set will consist majorly of songs produced with Brian Eno. Crowd interaction is clearly not Byrne’s forte but that is not what he is here to do, and when he bursts into the set you instantly get why he is so highly regarded. His singing voice is as unique and wonderful as it ever was, and for man pushing 60 he gets about the stage.
Still by two or three songs in you feel there is something missing, the famous Talking Heads dance moves or the orchestra that has been with him through recent solo touring schedules, maybe. However it is just as you start to think this that the surprise is unleashed, as Byrne and co. hit into their next track three dancers emerge. The dancers go on to produce a mesmerisngly energetic, superbly choreographed routine throughout the set. It is not just the energy and routine that is engages about the dancers, they seem to be genuinely having the time of their lives and their engagements with the backing vocalists makes for quite an eye-catchingly chaotic show. This coupled with the use of wheelie chairs and the involvement of Byrne himself all add up to create as superb a visual experience as it is musically.
The set itself draws from Byrne’s expansive yet brilliant catalogue of material; the tracks produced with Eno are arguably the best of his work. Only one song from a non-Eno era is squeezed into the set in Talking Heads single ‘Burning Down the House’. Byrne himself is endearing while remaining constantly entertaining as he cuts through old and new, points out his family members, and keeps coming back with three encores.
The highlights of the set for the majority of the crowd are Talking Heads tracks, which are not played sparingly. Arguably the stand out moment of the set is when Talking Heads’ classic tracks are played back to back in Remain in Light’s ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and Fear of Music’s ‘Life During Wartime’. Creating enough of a spark in the room to draw the majority of the crowd to their feet, simultaneously tearing a new energy level on the stage.
It may be for reminisant purposes that the majority come and see David Byrne, but unlike so many older acts who have returned to the stage he does not let down. It is not exactly the same of course this is not Stop Making Sense but it is a man who equally and clearly knows what he is doing as much as he loves it.
The Royal Concert Hall has a bizarre feel to it as a gig venue. Entering through a bewilderingly large foyer into what appears to be an airport check-in, expensive bar and gift shops with complete with ‘no food of drink past this point’ signs. The hall itself feels more like a conference room than a venue for a pop concert. This is all forgotten when the lights go out and the homecoming hero enters the stage.
Byrne and his band appear dressed in all white as if there is something all round clean and innocent about them, and there is as Byrne just appears a nice old man. Byrne addresses the crowd with his intent for tonight’s show, announcing the set will consist majorly of songs produced with Brian Eno. Crowd interaction is clearly not Byrne’s forte but that is not what he is here to do, and when he bursts into the set you instantly get why he is so highly regarded. His singing voice is as unique and wonderful as it ever was, and for man pushing 60 he gets about the stage.
Still by two or three songs in you feel there is something missing, the famous Talking Heads dance moves or the orchestra that has been with him through recent solo touring schedules, maybe. However it is just as you start to think this that the surprise is unleashed, as Byrne and co. hit into their next track three dancers emerge. The dancers go on to produce a mesmerisngly energetic, superbly choreographed routine throughout the set. It is not just the energy and routine that is engages about the dancers, they seem to be genuinely having the time of their lives and their engagements with the backing vocalists makes for quite an eye-catchingly chaotic show. This coupled with the use of wheelie chairs and the involvement of Byrne himself all add up to create as superb a visual experience as it is musically.
The set itself draws from Byrne’s expansive yet brilliant catalogue of material; the tracks produced with Eno are arguably the best of his work. Only one song from a non-Eno era is squeezed into the set in Talking Heads single ‘Burning Down the House’. Byrne himself is endearing while remaining constantly entertaining as he cuts through old and new, points out his family members, and keeps coming back with three encores.
The highlights of the set for the majority of the crowd are Talking Heads tracks, which are not played sparingly. Arguably the stand out moment of the set is when Talking Heads’ classic tracks are played back to back in Remain in Light’s ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and Fear of Music’s ‘Life During Wartime’. Creating enough of a spark in the room to draw the majority of the crowd to their feet, simultaneously tearing a new energy level on the stage.
It may be for reminisant purposes that the majority come and see David Byrne, but unlike so many older acts who have returned to the stage he does not let down. It is not exactly the same of course this is not Stop Making Sense but it is a man who equally and clearly knows what he is doing as much as he loves it.
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