Young Fathers. Barrowlands, Glasgow. March 2018

Young Fathers. Barrowlands, Glasgow. March 2018. Live gig review

I have said it before, but it is worth saying again, Young Fathers are by far the best live act on the go just now. They are growing their following whilst barely changing the formula that they started out with: three Edinburgh men singing, contorting, crooning and shouting over a droning electronic background and vigorous live drumming. Live they give the impression of barely contained rage, and building pressure with little more than a dour Scottish sneer on show, the only visible release onstage is when Kayus Bankole convulses in an intermittent blur of flailing arms and legs. 

Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers

With the release of their latest album, Cocoa Sugar, they continue to produce a string of strong songs, which are uniquely "Young Fathers" when you hear them. Their very presence is a statement, but they don't beat you around the head with it, it's the nusic that assaults you. 

When it was announced that they were playing the Glasgow Barrowlands, tickets sold out within days. The question was whether their intense stage persona, which doesn't usually involve crowd pleasing "HALLO GLASGOOOOOW" shout-outs, would manage to lift the ballroom crowd. 

Support act WWWater were appropriately uplifting, with hints of Grace Jones and analogue synths among the increasingly abstract singing of Belgian Charlotte Adigéry. The crowd were showing signs of being in the mood for tonight's gig with the enthusiastic response she garnered. 

Young Fathers, Glasgow Barrowlands

Young Fathers when they came on stage could not get started until a cheering, stamping, expectant crowd had quietened down sufficiently to let them get going. Any doubts that they would not manage to take this whole room with them blown away in the first few seconds. With Graham 'G' Hastings, Kayus Bankole and Alloysious Massaquoi out front, largely silhouetted for the night against a white screen, they came together and drifted apart through all the songs, their voices merging and splitting from years of playing together. Tracks from the new album dominated the setlist (Tremolo, Toy and In My View stand out tracks tonight) but there were outings for plenty of stuff from their earlier output merged seamlessly into it. 

'G' almost broke into a smile at a couple of points as he tried to give us a few words, but ultimately stuck to the music. Loud, angry, energetic and something worth listening to. 

The crowd were grinning, cheering, singing along and baying for more - a reminder of how good it can feel to be part of a big Glasgow crowd when they are in the mood, whether at a football match or a concert. Best gig I've been to in a long time? Probably. 

BBC 6 Music Festival - Friday Night, Barrowlands, Glasgow

BBC 6 Music Festival. Barrowlands, Glasgow. March 24th 2017

Sleaford Mods, Warpaint, Ride, The Jesus and Mary Chain. Live review. 

The BBC 6 Music Festival is not a festival that many people have got marked out on their calendar to look out for. Like Radio 1's Big Weekend it gets bands publicity and provides the BBC with hours of material to screen across their digital services. If it lands in your town you get the chance to join in the fun. Moving from city to city each year it also provides publicity for a local music scene and gives you the chance to see a pile of bands in a single evening. Living in Glasgow you always feel that you are in a city with a varied and vibrant music scene, so it gives you a satisfied feeling to hear a week of interviews on the radio telling you that you were right. However, like any other arts scene, without support Glasgow musicians cannot thrive and in an age where it is increasingly impossible to earn a living from recorded music, Glasgow city needs to remember to nurture its live music venues and performers.

BBC Radio 6 Music Festival 2017, Glasgow

Like most people I was unable to get tickets for Depeche Mode at the Barrowlands, so I settled for the Barrowlands on a Friday night instead. First up were Nottingham's own Sleaford Mods. First time I saw them in Glasgow was in the attic space at The Old Hairdresser's, supported by Hector Bizerk they were by far the more hectoring act that night. Spitting out his angry complaints against the world to a room of a dozen people in was very entertaining but hard to see that there would be any mileage in it. A few years on and despite being first on stage tonight at 5.30pm on a Friday night, an almost full hall of people had made the effort to get down early to catch them. Jason Williamson still shouts and spits his wry, abrasive lyrics over minimalist looping beats in the style of a cheap Casio organ from Andrew Fearn. Continuing to plough their own furrow, they are now promoting their seventh album, English Tapas to bigger and bigger audiences. Good luck to them, still entertaining, still humorous and still angry.

Sleaford Mods at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival

A hard act to follow, Warpaint were a bit of a wet blanket after such a lively opener. The Los Angeles four piece play a spangly, floaty indie rock, which never quite manages to rock, despite the best efforts of spirited drummer Stella Mozgawa. Whenever a band spends their whole set telling the sound tech people to adjust the sound of that mic or this guitar up and down, endlessly, you know they are trying to avoid taking responsibility for sounding a bit flat. Also they adopted the demeanour of four people determinedly trying not to enjoy themselves. Maybe playing their own concerts they kick back a bit more and relax, but I can't really remember any of their songs which all washed over me. 

Warpaint

Ride on the other hand blew me away. I remember their t-shirts more than I remember their music from the shoegazing end of the 1990s. They kicked off with two songs from their soon to be released new album, Weather Diaries before going through a back catalogue of songs that transported me to Level 8 at Strathclyde Uni. "Leave Them All Behind" was a stand out performance, heading in Mogwai's post-rock direction. Could easily have had more of Ride, whose music had so much more to it heard live. 

Ride at Glasgow Barrowlands

Another blast from the past that this Glasgow audience of mainly 40-50 year olds had come to see was a re-union of The Jesus and Mary Chain. East Kilbride brothers Jim and William Reid were fighting on stage with each other when Liam and Noel Gallagher were still in primary school. After several years apart they have managed to get together to record a new album, Damage and Joy and were on stage here for an hour without coming to blows. Their set covered everything from Psychocandy to new material, all delivered in a suitably disdainful manner. Not exactly setting the heather alight, but definitely enough to give you a warm glow, like a hamburger from the Barrowlands food counter. Satisfying.

Mogwai's 20th Anniversary and West End Festival All-dayer

Live review Mogwai 20th Anniversary gig, Barrowlands, Glasgow. 20 June 2015
Live review - West End Festival ALl-dayer, Oran Mor, Glasgow. 21 June 2015

This weekend there was a spectacular amount of good music performed in Glasgow, which I was lucky enough to see. Local heroes Mogwai are playing a series of 20th anniversary gigs just now and did two sold out nights at the Barrowlands in Glasgow. We pitched up early on the first of these nights, as they had added to a celebratory atmosphere with some excellent support acts.

First up was Pye Corner Audio, noodling away onstage as the crowd arrived. Good to see him perform but listening to it at home it has an old fashioned electronica, John Carpenter-style feel that is maybe better suited to hearing in a dark basement than the Barrowlands Ballroom. 

Without much time for chin stroking, Prolapse were up next. They are a band which passed me by in the early 1990s, their stated aim at that time "of being the most depressing band ever". If Mogwai are classified as post-rock, this was post-punk and probably the highlight of an entertaining evening. Playing together after a few years off they were tense and crackling on stage. "Scottish Mick"  Derrick and Linda Steelard prowled about on stage with the threat of pent up violence hanging over them the whole time. Thankfully they (just about) didn't come to blows on stage. 

Loop were up next, a band I remember more for their wavy flag logo than their music, but my pal accompanying me tonight is a big fan. They have also re-formed after a hiatus of a few years to tour again. Their looping guitars and droning noise place them somewhere between Motorhead and My Blood Valentine at times, but the grey haired, Paul Weller styled frontman, Robert Hampson, steers them away from this.

Mogwai on stage at The Barrowlands

If you've read any other blogs that I've written here you will know that I've seen Mogwai a few times over the years, so it was great to see them again. I'm delighted to read today that they plan to bring out a retrospective box set, "Central Belters" (nice title) in October too. I won't say much about their full-throttled set other than to note that they moved away from their stereotyped quietquietLOUD to give us two hours of loudloudquietLOUD tonight, no place for the likes of their recent gentle, and successful, Les Revenants soundtrack material. It is years since I have seen them play in the Barrowlands and it really is the perfect venue for them. Nice to see Aidan Moffat join them on stage for a rendition of "R U Still In 2 It" too.

One final mention for their excellent 20th anniversary T-shirts, featuring the original Star Wars arcade game, which I guess must be at least 20 years old too. This game (or maybe Moon Cresta) was my all time favourite to play in Treasure Island on Jamaica Street circa 1985 and I was great at it, so I had to get one.

Oran Mor West End Festival All-dayer

Having been very abstemious all night on Saturday as I was running the Men's 10k through the streets of Glasgow on Sunday morning, I was able to relax on Sunday afternoon at the West End Festival all-dayer. A mouthwatering array of local musicians was on offer across three venues within the venerable old church-come-pub and club.

Main auditorium, Oran Mor

Every time I have been to a gig in the main auditorium upstairs the performers on stage beneath Alastair Gray's spectacular murals are competing to be heard over the bar at the other end of the room, which itself is raised up on a slightly higher stage. It cannot be that this place just attracts the rudest of crowds, but has to be down to the shape and acoustics of the place. Fine for a wedding band maybe, not the ideal place to hear the quiet musings of recent Scottish Album of the Year Award winner, Aberdonian Kathryn Joseph. In front of a crowd of those curious to see her after winning the award, her ethereal singing and playing led me to buy her album to listen to it again more closely.

After that we grabbed some food then headed downstairs to The Venue in the basement to hear Man Of Moon, who describe themselves as a "psychedelic two piece". Wearing their influences on their chest, with a Lou Reed T-shirt on, they managed to create their own sound and were good live.

Remember Remember perform for the last time

If Mogwai can conjure up a dark Winter's day in the West of Scotland with their music, then nobody does the sunshine of a Spring morning, sparkling on the early dew, better than the band Remember Remember. I  first saw Remember Remember when they were just Graeme Ronald playing spoons, scissors and various instruments through loops to build a sound picture. They progressed into an impressive instrumental band with three excellent albums to their name, but have now decided to call it a day and announced that their Oran Mor show would be their farewell gig. Lovely as ever and I'm sorry to see them call it a day. I headed home later with an 'E' that Graeme had chucked into the crowd to help me remember Remember Remember. 

Back upstairs to see the ever entertaining and former Scottish Album of the Year award winner RM Hubbert strumming his stuff. He took a more direct (and successful) approach to those who continued to chat away at the bar over his performance. Shouting "Will youse shut the fuck up!" is something I hope Kathryn Joseph doesn't need to add to her stage persona. Nice to see Aidan Moffat joining Hubby on stage to provide the vocals for "Car Song". Passing up the chance to see We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Phantom Band we headed back downstairs to see a great set by Stanley Odd. I haven't ever seen him perform before, although his song to his child, "Son I Voted Yes", was widely circulated after the referendum verdict. Scottish accented hip-hop is a niche market I suspect, but his energy is contagious and his lyrics sharp, witty and political. Fellow vocalist Veronika Electronika (do you think that's her real name?) has a fantastic voice too over various different styles. Nicely done.

Sorry, but whenever we see Bill Wells perform I immediately
see Raymond Briggs's Father Christmas

I finished my weekend of music with Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells playing songs from the two albums that they have collaborated on. Accompanied by a great band of musicians playing assorted instruments, there was Bill on piano and Mr Moffat out front with percussion and vocals. They played a subdued set with a delicate, jazz-inflected atmosphere and it was nice to hear one of my favourites, "The Copper Top" again alongside material from "The Most Important Place In The World". A lovely way to end a great weekend of music.