Nina Nesbitt, Älskar UK Tour, Galvanizers SWG3, Glasgow. Tuesday 22nd November, 2022

Why would I want to go to see Scottish singer-songwriter, Nina Nesbitt, perform in Glasgow? Let me think...

Still trying to think...

I can't think. 

Really. She has that effect on me. 

She writes and performs beautiful songs about love in all its forms. I've been streaming her new album consistently ever since it came out. I am totally besotted with her.

I thought hard about whether to attend this gig. As a man in my fifties, I'm not exactly her audience demographic (teen girl and older). It might look a bit sad being the lonely old man in a crowd of teenies. Fortunately, I knew a couple of young people who were going and tagged along (thank you, Julie and Scott).

I managed to park close by and after being stamped on the inner wrist by security (how do they decide which part to tag?), we headed into the venue. As expected, the audience was predominantly young and female. There was so much oestrogen in the room, I worried my period would start to sync with theirs and, as a man, that would be a worry.

We missed the first support act, Lonely Twin, but arrived in time to hear Katelyn Tarver perform her set. She's from Los Angeles, is also an actress, and tonight sang accompanied by a man on guitar (she did introduce him but I can't remember his name). During her cover of The Only Exception, his guitar started to distort with feedback so she paused the song to check if we could hear that. Rather than halt the gig, the man simply walked across to the piano and continued to accompany her for the rest of the set on that instrument totally unrehearsed. What a talent! 

Katelyn's voice is exquisite and she hit all the right notes with me. A joy to listen to. It was just a shame the audience at that time was so small but she took it in good spirits.  

When Nina came on I was struck by how long her legs are, an effect enhanced by the shortness of her yellow skirt. She strode back and forth across the stage during the early numbers singing to the fans on either side before settling onto a stool with an acoustic guitar then later at the piano, to perform the softer numbers. 

Her voice was ethereal and captured the sound of the album, albeit with backing track vocals to enhance the effect. The performance of Heirlooms, accompanied harmoniously by her two support acts, was a magical experience and quite beautiful. It was the first time on the tour they had performed the song this way. I hadn't even thought to take a video of it and kicked myself afterwards.  

If I had any complaint about the show it would be that she plays too many slow songs. Her biggest tunes tend to be ballads. While they are beautifully written and sound wonderful, she needs a few more upbeat ones to lift the audience. Something of her own perhaps akin to Adele's Rolling in the Deep or Taylor Swift's Shake it Off. 

Of course, reflecting on this desire to change her to suit my needs means I haven't accepted her for who she is and any relationship we might have ever had is already doomed to failure. My dream of being asked to join her on stage to croon a duet of one of her love songs Bradley Cooper-style while staring into her sparkly eyes is over before it was ever (a star is) born. 

Just as well because I cannot sing. We'll just have to remain imaginary friends.

Ticket price: £15 (plus booking fee)

Setlist  (Non-VIP)

Intro Gaol

Teenage Chemistry

Pressure Makes Diamonds

Colder

No Time (For My Life to Suck)

Limited Edition (Somebody Special Played During Instrumental )

Dinner Table (Nina Solo Acoustic)

I Should Be a Bird (Nina Solo Acoustic)

Older Guys (Nina Solo Acoustic)

Heirlooms (Nina Acoustic with Katelyn Tarvin and Lonely Twin)

Last December (Nina Solo Keyboard)

Colours Of You

When You Lose Someone

Loyal to Me

Love Letter (Last Verse & Chorus)

Need You

Chewing Gum

Life's a Bitch

Cry Dancing

Encore:

Is It Really Me You're Missing

Älskar

The Best You Had

Saxon, "Seize The Day" World Tour, Glasgow Barrowlands. Monday 21st November, 2022

This gig was rescheduled more times than we've had prime ministers this year. Originally due to take place in 2019 at the Braehead Arena, celebrating Saxon's forty years in the business, with Black Star Riders and Girlschool in support, it got postponed to allow time for lead singer, Biff Byford, to recover from triple-bypass heart surgery. A new date was arranged for March 2020, now at the Barrowlands but without BSR. That date got moved to 2021 because of Covid and then moved again to 2022. Two albums later, it's still at the Barrowland but now has Machine Head as special guests. At least it gave them long enough to sell out the venue.

I first saw Saxon in 1984 on their Crusader tour (for the princely sum of £4.50 - no booking fees back then). It was my second-ever gig and they were amazing with their massive castle set filling the Glasgow Apollo stage. Biff Byford, a proud Englishman, was funny, teasing the Scottish crowd to be better than his countryman in raising the roof. We were so good we almost demolished the place.

The next time I saw them was in '86 at the Edinburgh Playhouse, with Loudness in support. That gig was a joke of almost Spinal Tap proportions - the lights went down and Saxon didn't appear for ages. When they did, the front smoke booms fired too early and had cleared by the time the band rushed on stage making them look like they were running late for school. Biff's vocals were strained and, by then, they were chasing the American dream so their new material was aimed at cracking that market. The power and the glory was lost. 

While other bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal continued to play large arenas, Saxon faded, unable to keep up with the times. However, lately, their career took a massive upswing thanks to a couple of decent, well-received albums. They've been selling out bigger venues again and their dignity has returned. 

It felt like old times heading along to the Barrowlands. Many of the punters wore denim jackets, proudly displaying their heavy metal band patches on the back. With shoulder-length hair, you couldn't tell their age until they turned around. To misquote Aerosmith, Dude looks like a grandpa.

Inside, the venue was already rammed, despite it being a good forty minutes before the special guests, Diamond Head, were due on (at 8 pm). The crowd was mainly male and older so perhaps that explained why it felt so busy. Men of my age tend to be on the larger side. However, youth was still well represented. They were just further forward. 

I found a spot with a good view behind a few ladies who were shorter than me and waited for my pals to arrive. At 7.45 pm, the lights went down with still no sign of my friends.  

Diamond Head were better than I expected. The singer's vocals were powerful, as was his presence, and they sounded great, far better than most Special Guests. I even knew two of their songs: In the Heat of the Night and Am I Evil? A superior support act I'd say. I did find it amusing how the bald lead singer would try to chinbang with his ginger beard. I suppose it was a statement gesture.

During the break, my pals found me, including one superfan from Dunbar who'd taken Bob's spare ticket after Doug dropped out. The big punters also started to push their way in, including two tall blokes with a pint in each hand who stood in front of us, while we had our backs turned. Nothing you can do though except wait for the band to come on and hope they move.  

Saxon were loud and noisy, sometimes to the detriment of the tune. Biff Byford still has a striking presence, albeit a more portly, jowly one and his vocals often rely on after-effects to carry the sound. At seventy-one, you can forgive him this though. He still has that twinkle of humour behind his eyes and isn't afraid to laugh at himself for not remembering it was a Monday, not Friday. At least he knew he was in Glasgow. I wasn't sure why he kept touching his crotch though. Maybe his prostate was playing up.

They played a good mix of old and new songs and I particularly enjoyed The Power and the Glory and Dallas 1pm. I don't think they were as good as when I first saw them but they put on a good show for us. I think the stage was a little smaller than they were used to but it was nice to see the eagle emblems on the Marshall speakers even if we couldn't get the massive eagle lighting rig of their shows of yore. 

During the set, another two tall punters, a man and a girl, forced their way forward, leading the way through the crowd with their pints. By then, the two tall blokes were now on our right, having edged over. The new pair pushed past them and stopped directly in front. Words were exchanged, one tall bloke unhappy at someone even taller blocking his view. His pal abandoned him to get more alcohol. It turned out he needn't have bothered. The argument escalated and the one who remained ended up with half a pint chucked over his face, the tall girl having had enough of his jostling. Bob and I couldn't help but chuckle. The tall bloke was fuming but impotent to respond. It was the funniest thing I'd seen in ages. The tall couple left shortly afterwards, probably because she needed to replace her drink.

Ticket price: £30 (plus bf). 

Setlist  

Motorcycle Man

Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)

Wheels of Steel

Age of Steam

Heavy Metal Thunder

Razamanaz (Nazareth cover)

Strong Arm of the Law

Dogs of War / Solid Ball of Rock

The Eagle Has Landed

Never Surrender

Dallas 1 PM

Black Is the Night

20,000 Ft

And the Bands Played On

Power and the Glory

747 (Strangers in the Night)

Encore:

The Pilgrimage

Denim and Leather

Encore 2:

Princess of the Night  

Fred Macaulay and Bruce Morton Comedy Night, The Bungalow, Paisley. Sunday 20th November, 2022

I had tickets to see this pair at The Bungalow in 2020, a gig that got postponed because of the first lockdown. I took a refund then and didn't even realise that gig had been rescheduled to last year. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see on Friday a Facebook ad promoting the pair at the Bungalow tonight and for there still to be tickets available (at the bargain price of £12 no less, plus fees of £1.52).

Another surprise was to see Parrot, a comedian from Greenock I first saw back in the nineties, jump on stage to introduce them. I think it was a surprise to him too because he'd only made the journey along the M8 to see his old pals perform, not expecting to compere the evening. It showed too. He was not so much a warm-up man as a let's kill this gig stone dead man. I think Monty Python might have been inspired by his performance. To be fair though, he hadn't been on a stage in nine years and was as rusty as an iron nail left exposed to the elements for that length of time. 

The same could be said of the first act, Bruce Morton. He admitted he also hadn't been on stage since last year's Bungalow gig. His material came across like a work-in-progress, especially as he kept referring to his two pages of scribbled notes.  Some jokes landed, others died. He salvaged the set by throwing in some old material I recognised from the nineties. Given the circumstances, I'll forgive him for the unevenness of his performance.  

Fred has been touring so his material flowed well, although, given he opened with his COP 26 material, he might have been using it for a while now. His set was good, despite the interruptions of Helena, a forty-year-old woman from Falkirk, who'd come through with her family and friends to see him, even offering to drive him home if he performed for longer (there's a joke in there somewhere but, as a male of a certain age, I'd never be able to find it).  

This was my first time in The Bungalow since it has been refurbished and I liked it. The raised stage provided good visibility and the sound was good, despite Parrot suggesting the 'music' microphone turned down the funny. My only complaint was that the LED spotlights pointing at the audience were kept on during the show causing me eye strain. Comedy gigs work better when the audience isn't illuminated. Just saying.

The offending spotlight