GUN, The Big 3-0 Tour - 3 Iconic bands play 3 classic albums, Barrowlands, Glasgow. Saturday, 21st December 2019.

Night two of my trip down memory lane or, in this case, the Gallowgate on my way to the Barrowland Ballroom. 

Tonight, the parking nearby is far worse, mainly because I'm arriving later than last night, having had a tiring, pre-Christmas-rush day at work. I eventually find a space behind a van which is sitting overlapping two parking slots, leaving my car's rear tyres sitting on a double-yellow. I wait to see if the van is going to move anytime soon (its engine is still running) but the pair in the front are listening to music and scrolling through their phones. I head to the venue under a cloud of trepidation in case I get a ticket. The night already has not exactly gone to plan with my wife unable to attend, having been struck down with a lurgy.

Inside, security is light. I'm not even frisked. At the foot of the stairs, my ticket stub is torn off and I'm in. I get a text from a mate saying they are over at the side near the bar. The dancefloor is packed. I should have expected this given there are fans of three bands in the audience. I find a path through the crowd and join my pals. At this point, I've already missed the first act, FM, and Dan Reed Network is setting up. 

The upside to being near the bar is the height boost from the step allowing a better view over all the heads between you and the stage. The downside is the flow of people passing in front of you on their way to and from the bar. 

I'm wasn't at all interested in Dan Reed. I bought the 'Slam' album at the time, listened to it twice and moved on. He's an expressive, energetic performer with lots of frontman moves and a fun sense of humour. It's just a shame his music leaves me cold. Lots of people enjoyed his hour-long set.

GUN is my favourite band and their debut 'Taking on the World' is a special album for me. The guitar riffs, the song lyrics and the driving drum beats are all ingrained in my heart so whenever I see them live it's like I'm in my twenties again. Only tonight, I'm a bit sore and weary and am happy to lean on a pillar rather than bounce about in the crowd. Being ever so tetchy, I get irritated by the punter beside me whenever he bumps into me. I resist shoving him back because he's with four blokes and they are all taller and wider than me. I've got nowhere to go, though, because of the pillar. Eventually, he moves away to get more beer and my tension eases. 

GUN deliver the goods again. It's a great concert.

Afterwards, the final good thing about standing near the bar was in getting to use the fire escape for a quick exit. From the band taking their final bow to me getting home was less than thirty minutes. And I didn't get a parking ticket. A good night.

Setlist
Coming Home
Better Days
The Feeling Within
She Knows
Something to Believe In
Can't Get Any Lower
Word Up! (Cameo cover)
Taking on the World
I Will Be Waiting
Don't Say It's Over
Favourite Pleasures
Money (Everybody Loves Her)
Inside Out
Encore:
Shame on You
(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) (Beastie Boys cover)

They might have also played Steal your Fire in the encore or I might have dreamt it.

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie, Good Deeds and Dirty Rags 30th Celebration, Barrowlands, Glasgow. Fri 20th December 2019

The first of two consecutive nights for me at the Barrowlands, Scotland's best music venue: a sold-out gig of reformed 90's band Goodbye Mr Mackenzie.

Getting parked easily, close to the venue, I sit in my car then wait till showtime to head down to catch the support act, Seil Lien. There's not much of a queue but while I wait, a youth from the bar next door leaves the group of fellow smokers to enquire who was playing. Another gig-goer tells him 'Goodbye Mr Mackenzie' and the youth asks her to repeat the name. She does so and he still draws a blank. 'You're too young, sonny' she says, as he heads back to his mates none the wiser. 

The metal detectors are flashing as fast as Christmas lights and everyone is getting patted down, searched thoroughly for sharp objects. When asked if I am carrying any, I resist saying "Just my wit" and I head upstairs. After a quick visit to the gents (which retains an endearing charm, walled on three sides by one urinal trough), I find the dancefloor mostly devoid of punters and get to select where I want to stand for the gig, just off centre, slightly forward of the middle. 

At 8 pm, Seil Lien comes on and after one song, I'm wishing for a skip track button. Her voice is okay but her songs are doing nothing for me. She finishes with a cover of 'I'm in Love with a German Film Star' by the Passions and makes it sound even more mournful than the original. I'm glad it's her last.

Just before the Mackenzies take the stage at 9 pm, the tall punters appear from the fringes and my carefully chosen short-person-in-front-of-me position now has one in front of her. There are others around me so I'm boxed in. I hope when the band appears they all move forward. 

Big John, the band's original guitarist, using crutches because of his MS, is helped on stage first and gives a defiant salute with them before settling onto his support stool. The rest of the band come on and open with 'Open Your Arms", which one lanky fellow beside me takes as an instruction for the rest of the gig. He's drunk and is enjoying the gig on a whole different level to me, exhibiting his passion with great flourishes. I fear for my spectacles and have to raise my arm often in protection. (Make up your own personal insult towards him here.)

It spoilt an otherwise okay gig. Siel Lien may have stepped into Shirley Mason's shoes but she hasn't filled them. The lighting show seemed improvised with an excessive love of strobe lighting and the sound mix was muddy, with the band sometimes gesturing for their instrument to be louder. Martin's vocals weren't strong but his performance was still mesmerising. He's a great frontman. Obviously, I still love the songs and am glad I went but it wasn't special. 

Setlist

Open Your Arms

Wake It Up

His Master's Voice

Goodwill City

Candlestick Park

Dust

You Generous Thing

Good Deeds Are Like Dirty Rags

Normal Boy

Green Turn Red

Here Comes Deacon Brodie

Face to Face

Goodbye Mr Mackenzie

The Rattler

Encore:

The Way I Walk (Jack Scott cover) (Big John on lead vocals)

Blacker Than Black

Now We Are Married   

   

Jim Jefferies, 'The Night Talker' tour, SSE Hydro, Glasgow. Thursday, 12th December, 2019

For this tour, Jim booked big venues; unfortunately, his star doesn't shine quite as brightly over here as it does in the States so he didn't sell out, filling around 4,500 of the 8000 tickets available. This meant the upper level of the Hydro was curtained off and the atmosphere was a little flat.

He brought two support acts with him this time: an Aussie, whose name I can't remember, and Forrest Shaw, the American comedian, that Jim brought with him last time when he played the Armadillo. Both supports had good material, appropriate for Jim fans, but neither won over the space. As warmups, they achieved lukewarm at best.

Jim was funny but I felt he was going through the motions tonight, actual bowel motions in one story. He looked tired, heavy and regularly sucked on his vape, like it would give him the kick to continue. The routines felt like routines, rather than spontaneous tales. You have to admire his craft, though, when apparent tangents dovetail back into the main story to great comic effect.

He still has the club chops to destroy hecklers, putting one man who shouted 'Scot-Land' in his place with a detailed and lengthy explanation about why that phrase will haunt him for the rest of his life. 

The show unfortunately finished with a story that he told last time about his brother threatening to piss on the carpet if Jim didn't get him a coke. Having heard it before, it left me feeling slightly cheated.

In summary: not his best tour but still funny.

Admiral Fallow, St Luke's, Glasgow. Thursday, 5th December. 2019

There's always less energy in the room when a band plays new songs that have yet to be released. Admiral Fallow unveiled a number of new tunes last night but that was okay because the whole point of the gig was to raise enough money to record their new album. 

Support came in the form of Angie McMahon, an Aussie singer/songwriter who sings moderately sad songs (her description) while strumming an electric acoustic guitar. She has a quirky personality, appears a little shy but has a lovely, self-deprecating sense of humour and a sweet smile. Her speaking voice is like honey whereas her singing voice is deep and throaty, reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde and Florence Welch (of 'And The Machine'). Her songs were okay but didn't really warm up the crowd.

Prior to their performance, Admiral Fallow appeared on stage to tune their own equipment. It was that kind of gig. They hadn't toured in three years and admitted to being a bit rusty, especially showcasing new material. That didn't stop it being a fun gig. Louis Abbot is a great singer with a distinctive voice and the band are all accomplished musicians, changing instruments as the song required. I'm not sure if the new stuff is as good as the old ones but that could be down to unfamiliarity. 

    

I made the mistake of standing too close to the front. It became quite crowded and there wasn't a lot of wiggle room to get a better view when the tall people pushed their way forward. My photos weren't great partly because of my proximity to the stage and because of the smoke/lighting combination being used (either that of my new phone camera sucks).

One amusing highlight came at the start of the encore. As the band gathered to sing 'Four Bulbs', only accompanied by Louis on instrumental guitar, the music from the next door bar bled through loudly. They got on with it anyway and it was still a moving version.  

Overall, I'm glad I went. Gigs after work can sometimes be a drag but Admiral Fallow were good. I'm looking forward to their new album whenever it is ready.

     

Setlist

Sleepwalking

Electric Eyes

Subbuteo

Paper Trench

3 Weeks

Happened in The Fall

The Possibility

Tree Bursts

Dead Against Smoking

Squealing Pigs

Guest Of The Government

The Grand National, 1993

Evangeline

Salt

Tuesday Grey

Encore:

Four Bulbs

Old Balloons

Judah & The Lion, SWG3, Glasgow. Friday 29th Nov, 2019

Judah & The Lion hail from Tennessee and first came to my attention when they supported Kaleo at the Barrowlands. That night they blew away the main act with their energetic, fun performance. When I realised they were coming back, I knew I had to see them again (I didn't realise they'd already been back in July, playing King Tut's at the very start of this tour).

The gig was supposed to be at The Art School but was transferred to SWG3 in Glasgow's west end. I had never been to this particular venue before and wasn't sure how easy it would be to park nearby so snagged a brightly-lit space outside a local gym, opting to walk the rest of the way. We were running late so I didn't want to risk having to drive around to find a closer space. Then, as we approached the venue, we saw loads of empty parking bays. I began to wonder if the gig had been cancelled. 

The street was deserted. I would normally expect a stream of latecomers flowing towards the venue but the only people in sight were a gaggle of girls smoking outside plus a lone security person checking the tickets. We could hear that an indistinct din from inside telling us the support act had already started. 

Climbing a couple of staircases we entered a warehouse-like space with a low ceiling, visible beams supporting the floor above. The room was divided by a curtain, in front of which was the control desk, with the bar area behind it. The audience was sparse but that is not unusual for a support act. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the music. 

Sara 'N' Junbug are a young Scottish four-piece pop band with catchy songs and a fun attitude. I liked the twenty minutes that I caught and would go see them again. Maybe. They come across better live than they do in their youtube videos.

I wasn't overly alarmed by the small audience. However, at 8.20 pm, when the intro to 'Pep Talk' blasted out and there still weren't many more people, I was dismayed. It was a small crowd with lots of empty space.  

Judah & the Lion didn't disappoint though. They put in a varied and energetic performance, full of charisma and charm. Frontman Judah did his best to bring the crowd closer and engage them in singalongs and hand waving, even getting them dancing. Everyone looked like they were having a great time. It was just a shame there were so few people. They deserve a bigger audience.

As well as tracks from their latest album, 'Pep Talks', they played covers such as Blink-182's 'All the Small Things' and Tom Petty's I won't Back Down', plus their rendition of 'Loch Lomond' and an original Tennessee hillbilly tune that I don't recall the name of.


The lighting was a little in-your-face because of the low ceiling, with the spotlights regularly blinding me. They made good use of the massive glitter ball though.    

They finished their hour with the anthem, 'Take It All Back'. I recorded it on my phone but stopped the video early not expecting the lead singer to jump into the crowd to continue the song. That video file was too large to load here so the file below is the very end of the concert. It captures some of energy and warmth of their performance. 

  
  

Tim Minchin, 'Back', SEC Armadillo, Glasgow. 22nd Nov 2019

I was lucky enough to meet Tim Minchin after one of his early gigs at the Edinburgh Fringe. He was signing merch after the gig and I'd joined the long queue of swooning girls waiting to meet him. When I got to the front, I became totally starstruck. I barely managed to utter my name and he joked about how he should spell mumble mumble. I bought his CD and a canvas bag (which I never took to the supermarket because he'd signed it). I returned to my friends feeling that he was going to be a huge star. He had an amazing ability to construct comic songs, the talent to blow you away with his piano skills and a star charisma that grabbed your attention.

I wasn't wrong. A few years later, he was playing large concert halls backed by the massive Heritage Orchestra having reworked his songs on a grand scale. It felt like he'd graduated to a higher level. Then we lost him to stage musicals and Hollywood (the latter of which he is still bitter about as the new studio execs wiped out five years of his life with one phone call). Still, he got a couple of songs out of the experience.

Now he's Back, hence the tour title, doing what he loves. Only, this time, it's a little different. He starts as he normally does, bare of feet and big of hair, just him and the piano. There is a curtain behind him, curtailing the depth of the stage, just a couple of spotlights beaming down at him. We think maybe he's deliberately going small as he hasn't toured in eight years and wants to build his confidence. He admits when he put the show together it was always going to be more about the songs, not the comedy, suggesting he was wrongly categorised as a comedian.  

Then a few numbers in, he pulls a switcheroo. The curtain falls revealing his new backing band, complete with brass section. Columns, topped with spotlights, line the perimeter of the stage with a giant screen in the centre. The gig transforms into a rock concert, with new and old songs reworked for this new type of sound. It's a typical Tim move. He would never be satisfied giving us what we expected.

It was a great gig.

(I don't have any pictures of the performance for two reasons: firstly, a very funny sweary stage announcement instructed us not to, then Tim reinforced that message saying he wanted us to experience every moment of his show live, not from behind the lens of a camera. It seemed a fair request.)

Timings: Doors 6.30pm, Onstage 7.30pm, Show over 10.20pm.

Setlist 
Set 1 - Before the Interval
If This Plane Goes Down
F Sharp
Mitsubishi Colt
Thank You God
Rock N Roll Nerd
15 Minutes
If I Didn't Have You
Woody Allen Jesus
Prejudice

Set 2 - After the Interval
Leaving L.A.
Cheese
I'll Take Lonely Tonight
Fuck This

Encore:
White Wine in the Sun
When I Grow Up

Le Mans '66, Vue IMAX, Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port. 18th Nov 2019.

The IMAX countdown trailer promises a cinema experience like no other. Le Mans '66 delivers big time. You can feel the growling car engines in your chest and the giant screen takes you inside the races for maximum, nail-biting excitement. The script, casting and characterisation are all excellent.  

Known in America as 'Ford vs Ferrari' (because the Yanks might think it's a foreign film), the film stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale as Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles, the team hired by Ford to dethrone Ferrari as kings of the track. Their battles are not just on the track though as their egos and those of the corporate suits clash to undermine the task. Of course, as it's based on a true story, the ending is never in doubt yet it still manages to surprise. 

It took me a while to place the English accents of Bale and Caitriona Balfe, who plays his wife. Then I realised it was by order of the Peaky Blinders, only with racing helmets instead of flat caps. Matt Damon's character was even called Shelby. I noticed a nice detail where Miles young son was wearing an Aston Villa football top while watching the telly.

A moment I loved (without spoilers): during the Daytona race, I wanted to punch the air in delight, yet had a tear in my eye such was the excitement. Bale hasn't driven this fast since his turn in the batmobile.

I heartily recommend this movie. 

Tommy Tiernan - Paddy Crazy Horse, Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Sun 3rd Nov, 2019

Tonight was a masterclass in hilarity.

From the moment he walked on stage, Tommy owned the room. Dressed all in black, save for the maroon band around his trilby and the white surround of his shoes, the comedy tinker eeked mirth from every pore. Lyrical at times, he always kept a twinkle in his eye and a cheeky grin beneath his grey beard to let everyone know he was joking, no matter how awful the thing he'd said. There was a tremendous physicality to his performance too which exaggerated every laugh. 

Having no support act helped transport us into his world, his voice (no matter which accent he was abusing) held us rapt from one beautiful line to the next belly-shaking whopper. The craic was flowing freely and it was a shame it had to end. The man claims to be made of dreams and I think that's true. I'll not remember many of his lines but I'll keep that warm memory with me for a lot longer. It was a great night.

That was until my wife complained about my driving on the way home and we got into a fight, which she won with hurt silence. I wish I could travel back into Tommy's world. To sleep, perchance to dream of twenty-four-year-olds.

Romesh Ranganathan, 'The Cynic's Mixtape Tour', SEC Armadillo, Glasgow. 26th Oct 2019

I feel I should preface this 'reaction' by referencing a bit Romesh starts with. He talks about the audience not wanting to be there. They booked the tickets over a year ago then forgot about them and now one person reminds the other they've got Romesh tonight and the other person sighs. It was funny because it was true. I wasn't up for a good night. I'd had a busy day (week) at work and just wanted to close my eyes and wake up after my extra hour's sleep post-BST. 

Jen Brister, the support act, did twenty minutes which did little to change this view. She was supposed to warm up the audience for Romesh but the sell-out crowd's bodies were already doing that. My eyes were heavy and I did my best to stay awake but I did occasionally slip into listening mode. My first impression of her was how she resembled a thin Mark Owen (of Take That).  Her material covered topics like her twins, being a 'lezzer' and labiaplasty. I didn't rate her but that was probably my fault more than hers due to my tiredness.

Our seats behind the sound desk in the circle gave me a good view, but my smaller wife (not that I have other wives of differing sizes) could have used a booster seat to see over the raised balcony. She had to sit forward in her seat to see. It also became frustrating every time the sound engineer walked to the front of his booth and we got his wild-haired silhouette obstructing our view. A reminder not to book those particular seats again.

Romesh can be predictable with his comedy but that doesn't stop it being funny. He talked about his kids, his wife, being a vegan, racism at the football and the public opinion of Michael Jackson post-paedo scandal. In the second half, he also covered his health, his sex life (his brown sausage, sorry, chipolata) and family holidays. He admits he is lazy (despite being on a multitude of tv programmes) so we know he's going to make reference to his wonky eye, his mum and being brown. We know he's going to say something scurrilous then counter it with an 'I'm kidding' then flip it with 'I'm not'. It's his schtick. He gave us what we expected and laughed all the way to the bank.

He played well off the audience. One woman who laughed loudly like the wicked witch of the west whenever he wasn't speaking prompting him to imagine she was sitting there listening on headphones to a Michael Macintyre gig. This was followed by a spot-on impression of MM's reaction to a 'man-drawer'. Nicely improvised.

I enjoyed the end (not just because I got to go home). The encore had him rapping, which was different but still in character with his love of hip hop. Then, as he walked off stage, the outro music was 'Earth Song' by Michael Jackson. It was a lovely surprise callback to his first-half material and it made me smile. So perhaps it wasn't that bad a night out after all. 

'The Music of BOND, Licence to Thrill', featuring John Rigby (conductor), Louise Dearman and Tim Hower (vocalists) and the Scottish Concert Orchestra, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow. Sun 20th Oct, 2019.

I can be inflexible when it comes to planning my holiday schedule. If someone suggested I record my itinerary on a tablet, I'd use a chisel rather than a touch screen. So I was a bit freaked out when my holiday plans slowly unravelled. We had to cancel an overnight stay in Fort William and a trip on the Jacobite steam train after my dog fell ill; my Saxon gig got rescheduled after singer Biff Byford needed heart surgery; then Mr Singh's phoned to say there weren't enough people booked for Sunday's Pakora Masterclass so asked us to move to the Saturday instead. My plans were in tatters.

My wife, however, saw this as an opportunity and suggested we go to 'The Music of BOND' at the Concert Hall. I wasn't that keen but thought what the hell. If I didn't go, she would have gone with her mother and I would have ended up dogsitting four pooches instead.

I didn't really know what to expect other than an orchestra. I had hoped for movie clips of classic scenes but the lack of a screen on the stage put paid to that notion.

As the auditorium began to fill up, I realised from the age of the audience that this was going to be more of a Radio 2 'Friday Night is Music Night' style concert, only on a Sunday afternoon. The 28 piece orchestra started at the beginning with the classic Bond theme and treated us to a chronological journey through the soundtrack back catalogue, spiced up with sidesteps into the Pink Panther theme and a medley of crime theme tunes from tv and film, British in the first half and American in the second. I certainly wasn't expecting to hear the 'Hong Kong Phooey' theme being played today. In between, conductor Rigby acted as host and narrator giving us information about the music. 

In hindsight, it seems obvious, but the lack of any backing tracks impressed me. The orchestra was tight and sounded amazing. I was able to pick out individual instruments and the way the sound gelled was superb. 

Two singers were used and both had incredible voices. I particularly enjoyed Tim belting out Garbage's 'The World Is Not Enough' and Chris Cornell's 'You Know My Name'. Louise has a super range too, whether she's singing Adele's 'Skyfall' or any of the Shirley Bassey numbers.

They omitted one tune along the way. I wondered if it had been missed due to cost as Paul McCartney doesn't come cheap but it was being saved for the finale, with both singers duetting the famous number. It didn't have the impact of Paul's live version (no pyros) but Live and Let Die still left me smiling. A great way to finish the afternoon. The audience gave all the performers a standing ovation and it was well deserved. 

I guess I've reached that age now where I should be looking for my slippers, pulling on a cardigan, tuning the wireless to Scala FM and sitting back to relax with a Horlicks and a Werthers Original. 

Tommy Vance will be spinning in his grave.

    

  

Kiefer Sutherland, 'Reckless and Me' Tour, The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow. 16th Oct, 2019

I confess I was largely unaware of his music when I bought the tickets to this show. I knew it was vaguely country, it would appeal to my wife and it was something to look forward to during my week off work.

The night didn't begin well at the venue as security was a shambles. Entering via the main door of the City Halls, there were tables on either side with a security person on each one but they were only conducting bag searches. We were then directed to another table on the left for ticket checking and hand stamping. Then we were guided around a couple of corners back to the entrance and told to join the queue which had now stretched up the stairs. The system would have been fine except some people didn't use the main door - some used the side door. They didn't get a bag search. They didn't know about the hand stamps and stood anywhere they liked, defeating the purpose of the queue. Despite my grumbles though, we still got a viewing position near the front so it wasn't all bad.   

The support act Twinnie was excellent. A Yorkshire lass, she gives good country with great songs and a strong voice. She's got the whole package: looks, talent and a sense of humour. I look forward to hearing her debut album when it comes out next year.

Kiefer, on the other hand, may write songs that he's proud of but tonight he was a letdown. His gruff voice does not lend itself to singing live. For the first few tracks, his vocals were lost in the mix and the audience complained they couldn't hear him. It only seemed to affect his singing as between the songs he remembered his mic voice.

Kiefer takes his music seriously. He told some interesting tales about the tunes but it felt like he was playing a sketchily-written part. He wore the clothes and recited his lines but he didn't own the stage. The band looked like they were letting the Emperor play his tunes, remaining po-faced, giving each other side glances, occasionally breaking into a smirk as some in-joke presented itself. They are talented musicians and played well but didn't feel invested. It got better towards the end as they showed what they could do but Kiefer was only along for the ride.

He'll get better with experience and a lot of his fans did enjoy themselves. Me, not so much.
Still, it was a night out.