Vintage Trouble, The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow. Sat 25th June 2016

'Leave your troubles at the door, we're having a dance party tonight in Glasgow.'

But first...

The support act tonight were Slydigs, a band from Warrington who plug away with a sub-Oasis manc-rock. I had trouble understanding the bescarfed, vest wearing bassist when he occasionally made a comment on the mic but musically they did a fine job warming up the crowd of Troublemakers, most of whom were 40+. Just before the main act took to the stage, you began to notice the influx of sneaky teenagers, with their youthful energy, squeezing through the lard.

The audience anticipation was tangible and Vintage Trouble didn't disappoint. They have always been a great live band but tonight it struck me how tight they have become, visibly enjoying the performance, confident in their talent, yet humble that we decided to spend our time with them. Each of the waist-coated marvels was superb, packing more into 90 mins that a lot of bands ever give. The keyword was energy.

The audience sing-a-longs were loud, proud and word perfect showing how devoted a following they've picked up. Tye Taylor, the lead singer, loves to get among the audience and he was everywhere tonight: main stage, floor, tech board, side balcony, rear balcony and on top of the audience. He's like a dance preacher, with 'hands in the air' shouts and demands to dance, clap and sing that get all ages responding, showing his own moves like a dance-dynamo. The only time the audience energy sagged was when they played an unfamiliar new number that had a different groove. By the end of the show, my palms were so sore from clapping I had to fake clap.

I believe, now that the world has lost some of its musical greats, Vintage Trouble deserve to claim one of those fallen crowns. If you get the chance, go and see them. You won't be disappointed.

Setlist
Run Like the River
Nobody Told Me
Strike Your Light
Another Man's Words
Roller Coaster
Turn the Sky to Blue
Highland Dance Party!
Trouble Makers Medley: You Better Believe It (With elements of Total Strangers) / Soul Serenity / Angel City, California / Jezzebella / Gracefully / Total Strangers
Doin' What You Were Doin'
Blues Hand Me Down
Pelvis Pusher

Encore:

Nancy Lee

Sarah Pascoe, 'Animal', The Stand, Glasgow. Mon 20th June 2016

Sara Pascoe was superb tonight at The Stand, Glasgow, performing her 'Animal' tour. An hour and a half of solid comedy material, interweaving stories, funny thoughts, callbacks and bizarre ideas, like, she's decided she could be the Prime Minister but a pacifist one, who sells Trident on eBay and uses the cash to fund the NHS and pay nurses serious wages, like Sultan of Brunei money. But she'll only be the Prime Minister of those who want her cos she'll let the ones who don't want her to leave. (I do not do her material justice).

She talks almost non-stop and there are so many little funny gems along the way that you are enthralled by her. She describes wanting to be more confident, even adopting a baseball cap before the interval so 'Confident Sara' can plug her book, 'available for sale in the corridor', but I can see she has grown so much since her first tour.

She can be both erudite and silly in the same sentence. She's not afraid to explain a concept laughter-free knowing there's a punchline, a callback and a point to follow. Her material may be feminist friendly but she still appeals to both genders, with a routine on a local Sex Dungeon, her poor ability at giving handjobs and empathetic porn pop-ups and banners to teach men about the truth of relationships.

(I just mistyped relationshops* - what a brilliant concept - a shop where you can buy advice on being a better partner. But I digress.)

I could see the material she's written for this tour translating beautifully into a BBC2 sitcom, to rival Miranda, but with less pratfalls and more promoting the joy of female pubic hair.

Intelligent, whimsical, coy and magnificent: Sara is her own beast and well worth catching.

Eddie Izzard, Force Majeure (In English), The Stand, Glasgow. Sun 19th June 2016

Tonight's summary: human sacrifice, dogs, Caesar salad, a chicken, giraffes, lions & tigers, moles, horses and someone called Steve. Yes, I was at the Eddie Izzard 9pm gig tonight at The Stand. (performance in English, mostly, with occasional clucks). Fun stuff but I was too feart to take a piccy.

All proceeds from the gigs are being donated to the charities that Jo Cox supported.

Coldplay, 'A Head Full of Dreams' Tour, Hampden Park, Glasgow. Tues 7th June 2016

Despite the Yellow weather warning from the met office, the rain stayed away above Hampden. Even if it had, I don’t think it would have dampened the mood because the Coldplay audience were having an Amazing Day (if it had been at Parkhead, I could have used the ‘Para-Para-Paradise’ line).

As you entered the stadium, each person was handed a wristband (or Xyloband). Instructions on how to activate it and wear them appeared on the big screen prior to the show. The lighting effect of tens of thousands of these across the whole stadium was amazing, like rainbow fireflies dancing above the audience. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We had seats in the West Stand, with a stretch of tarmac and the First Aid tent between us and the packed standing area. It felt like we were sitting in an overflow car park, the distance it left us from the stage and its long extension through the middle of the audience. The squinty First Aid sign also frustrated me, but not so much that I could be bothered faking an illness in order to get through the barrier to the Standing area to straighten it.

We missed the first support act but caught the second. Lianne La Havas offered some strong vocals and a guitar groove that was infectious, even if few of the audience agreed when she asked them to sing ‘Turn up your love’. The camera pan on the big screen displayed a sea of staring, closed-mouthed fans. Nevertheless a fine support act.

Coldplay came on at 8.45pm and played through to 10.50pm. There were fireworks, explosions of floating colour, giant balloons, lasers and even shooting flames, most of which lost their impact until the sun set. This didn’t matter though because deep down Coldplay is about four blokes playing great stadium pop-rock. Chris Martin is a charismatic frontman and musician and the band is solid.

A lot of people mock Coldplay, a fact which Chris Martin acknowledges, but I think those people just don’t get it. Coldplay capture and share joy in performance. Chris Martin is a man-child who never had his dreams crushed by life. He loves what he does and it shows: with talent, with humour and with uninhibited dance moves, like you might have done as a kid and not cared. It’s all about being happy and having fun. What's not to love?

They played from three different locations within the stadium: main stage, end of walkway stage and in the Stand opposite the stage, none of which were any closer to us, a fact for which Chris apologised. Nice guy.

As always, a few fans caught my attention. The tall Chris Martin clone, with the University of Glasgow lanyard and cycle helmet, who sat in front of me was an annoyance, because, when he was sitting, he used the back of his seat as an elbow rest and kept hitting my knee, and when he stood up he blocked my view.

The dancers on the tarmac were heart-warming. Two, in particular, stood out: the one I imagined to be Susan Boyle’s blond sister, in a black top and leggings, who performed her own form of expressionistic dance during the entire concert, adding a purple balloon prop later on. She was brilliant, even shimmying all the way up to the fencing at the First Aid tent for a quick vape; and the bare-backed squaw in the yellow dress and gold sandals, wearing sunglasses and a hairband, who performed a ‘keep the rain away’ dance with her lanky male partner for the entire show provided lots of vigour. Not a dance inhibition between them. (videos to follow)

Overall, it was a great concert experience, despite the view.

Setlist
A-Stage:
O Mio Babino Caro (Maria Callas song) tape
A Head Full of Dreams (extended intro with Charlie Chaplin speech)
Yellow
Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall
The Scientist
Birds (with "Oceans" excerpt in intro)
Paradise (with Tiësto remix outro)

B-stage:
Magic
Ink
Everglow (Single Version)

A-stage:
Clocks
Midnight (Partial)
Charlie Brown
Hymn for the Weekend
Fix You (with "Midnight" excerpt in intro)
"Heroes" (David Bowie cover)
Viva la Vida
Adventure of a Lifetime

C-stage:
Kaleidoscope (extended)
In My Place (acoustic)
The Hardest Part (audience request song; acoustic)
See You Soon (with a snippet of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers)

A-stage:
Amazing Day (extended intro)
A Sky Full of Stars
Up&Up
End Credits (concert credits on screen)