Kings Tuts is strangely bare tonight for what on paper seems a mouth-watering line-up for fans of the alt rock scene. With two of America’s hottest prospects on display I am sure more people were expected at the famous venue, however for the few in attendance expectations seems high.
The bill is opened by local indie rock act The Deals, the Motherwell four-piece certainly put a lot of enthusiasm into their set, but as one of this wave of Scottish bands adopting English accents it lacks somewhat in imagination.
When New Jersey alt punk act Titus Andronicus take the stage expectation are at a high especially after a storming performance at the same venue some three months earlier. The band seem rather tired possibly down to a hefty tour schedule, and the much smaller more motionless crowd failing to spur on the band who seemed to thrive off their crowds energy in February.
At this point it is hard to fathom why the crowd cannot get into Titus, maybe it is frontman Patrick Stickles’ choice to sport an Oasis t-shirt, maybe it is his distractingly large beard. Still, musically the band is as solid as ever and produce a strong set which only suffers from a lack of urgency and a crowd egging them on.
The last time I saw headliners The Soft Pack they seems dumb founded by a full house Barrowland crowd waiting to see Franz Ferdinand, tonight however the band seem a lot more at home in front of a smaller audience. The crowd however smaller was disappointingly as still as it had been then and thus for Titus Andronicus. Aside from a couple of really excited fellows who jumped about in jubilation to every song while belting out chants of ‘we are the Soft Pack’ after almost every song.
The plaid clad alt rock ‘n’ rollers have been compared to many bands at the pinnacle of the scene they occupy and tonight they go some way to justify why. Following a slow start in which excitement level does not reach too far past plain average the band kick into gear with recent double A-side track and arguably the bands best song ‘Bright Side’ displaying vocalist Adam Lamkin’s distinctive alt rock croak best.
From this point the set keeps up the pace as the band play out with a collection of their stronger songs including other recent singles ‘Nightlife’ and ‘Extinction’. The change in gear seemingly stirs the crowd as they draw movement for the first time in the night, this however draws excelled excitement from the mega fans, mentioned earlier, whom Lamkin joins in the crowd for the closer, this coupled with an increase in volume provide an emphatic ending to a show that in reality should have been much more of a spectacle than it turned out to be.
The Soft Pack will certainly leave the happier of the acts as many more of the people in attendance will leave with positive view points of the band than would have done in their near anonymous dates with Franz.
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