Sara Pascoe, Phil Wang, Rhys James, Jen Brister: Live At Christmas. O2 Academy, Glasgow. Monday 16th December, 2024

On paper, this looked like a fantastic night. Five top-notch comedians on one bill for a Live at the Apollo-style Christmas show. Unfortunately, the seats at the Glasgow O2 are neither plush nor comfortable, and Monday nights are rarely laugh fests, especially on a wet December evening. Though the place is packed, the energy is muted, especially from the front couple of rows, which are filled with people of an older generation.  

Host Jen Brister, an androgynous, menopausal lesbian comedian dressed like a fifteen-year-old boy, picks up on this vibe. She struggles to mine anything funny from her crowd work, confessing that this audience isn't her usual demographic. I feel she would have gone over better if she'd been given a slot because, as the host, she was poor.

First up was Phil Wang. His set was fine, although a little too reliant on material about his moustache. He was funny, but I don't remember much about it. Forgetful.

Then we had an interval, the first of two.

After the break, Steen delighted us with a trio of sketches, the first at a spelling bee, then the second, a film review sermon from a Greek Orthodox priest (with audience participation), finishing up with a song about a boy whose mum leaves him at the supermarket checkout. Sick! (sic)

Rhys James was a disappointment, mainly because I'd heard a lot of his material before. The crowd didn't warm to his angry young man persona. He made lots of references to the audience being older than his usual crowd. A shame because he is usually a great joke writer. 

After the second interval, host Jen introduced the headline act, Sara Pascoe. She did really well. Her set seemed properly constructed rather than thrown together to fill the allocated time. Some big laughs!

So, a great end to the night. I have to say I did pity poor George Zacharopoulos, the Greek comedian performing his show at Blackfriars tonight. I wonder if he attracted any audience while these guys were in town.

Ticket Price £26.00 x2 £52.00Per Item Fees total £9.70
Order Processing Fees Handling Fee £2.85
Total £64.55 from Ticketmaster.

GUN 'Hombres" Tour, Barrowlands, Glasgow. Saturday 14th December, 2024.

If I'd been prepared to travel, I'd have had quite a choice of rock gigs to attend tonight: Those Damn Crows in Cardiff, These Wicked Rivers in Derby, and King King at the QMU in Glasgow. There was really only one choice, though. It had to be GUN at the Barrowland, the band's spiritual home.

I managed to snag a position close to the stage. My view was excellent, and for once, there was no crush. I only had one shaven-headed gentleman between me and the barrier. Shortly afterwards, a young woman on her own stood beside me. She was brunette, with long, straight hair, her features similar to Aubrey Plaza. Quite a beauty. She had a persistent smile like she knew a secret that made her the happiest girl in the world. She bopped along to the rock music playing over the PA like she couldn't help it. It was in her soul. We never spoke, but we did share a dance (if you count us moving at the same time, both of us facing the same direction, not looking at one another except out of the corner of my eye). To my amazement, every time I glanced at her, she was still smiling. I usually possess a talent for stifling girls' smiles as soon as they see me, but hers persisted, even when she looked directly at me as I passed her across a cup of water from the security person. By then, she was even hotter than at the start. 

Anyway, Collateral opened the show and played an excellent set. I'd never seen or heard them before, but I'd describe them as 80s-style melodic rock. The singer was tall with long, shoulder-length hair and liked acting out his lyrics, putting his whole body into the performance. The bassist wore a kilt and, later on, little else, playing topless. They performed like they deserved to be on that stage, which is always a good sign. One to keep an eye out for another time.

Technical problems delayed the start of Kira Mac's set, curtailing it. Kira's powerful voice was louder than even the guitars. However, they didn't play my favourite song of theirs, Scorned, and it was not on the setlist, which was disappointing. Maybe they will play it next year when they return to Glasgow.

GUN were immense. Getting our vocal cords warmed up with The Sensational Alex Harvey band's version of Delilah as an intro, they kicked off with Lucky Guy from the new album, its thumping bass rhythm and 70s vibe whipping up the crowd. The band's stage sound is stronger now, with Roo, Andy and Jools providing backing vocals. I felt a couple of songs were unusual choices, namely Vicious Heart and Pride, but the rest of the set was so good. 

During the encore, the legend that is Donald C MacLeod (of the clan MacLeod) came on wearing a Santa hat to present the band with an award for Best Scottish Album of 2024. 

I did make a bit of a fool of myself at the end. I got so excited that I started jumping during the last song, Shame on You. I haven't done proper jumping for years (because I'm old and fat with slightly dodgy ankles). Maybe I'd been mesmerised by the smiling girl's swaying moves or emboldened by the bouncy crowd around me. I managed to retain the sense to hold down my phone, which was poking out of my shirt chest pocket, but I neglected to consider my jacket, which I'd tucked around the buckle of my belt. After a couple of jumps, my jacket slipped onto the floor as I bounced in the air. Upon landing, I bent down to recover it but failed to address my centre of gravity, my lack of balance sending me head-first into the shaven-headed gentleman's thighs. I signalled my apologies as I corrected myself and didn't leave the floor again. My sweaty face hid my blushes.

After the gig, I hung around. All the bands mingled and hugged on stage as David Lee Roth's Just Like Paradise played over the PA. Collateral's lead singer spotted the smiling girl and pointed to her, smiling himself. I reckon she was his girlfriend, though I never did find out. 

I wasn't lucky enough to bag a setlist, but I did manage to take a photograph of one from someone who did.  Note it doesn't list the extra acoustic song, The Only One (from the Swagger album), that Dante and Jools played at the start of the encore.

Such a fabulous music gig to end 2024. 

Ticket price 1x General Admission £32.45 (Face Value £29.50)

E-Ticket £0.00
Transaction Fee £1.00
Order Total £33.45

Lucky Guy

Steal Your Fire

Collateral

Setlist

Glass Sky

Elysium

Just One of Those Days

On the Long Road

No Place for Love

Mr. Big Shot

Kira Mac

Setlist

One Way Ticket

Dead Man Walking

Chaos Is Calling

Play the Game

Climbing

Santa Claus?

Santa moonlighting as a photographer

GUN

Man at the front

Has a better video camera than me

Me next to Smiling Girl

Stuart Mitchell & Festive Friends, Blackfriars, Glasgow. Early Afternoon Show, Friday 6th December, 2024

It has been many years since I last visited Blackfriars and even longer since I'd been to a show there. And at nearly a tenner for a glass of red wine and a can of Irn Bru, it may be a while before I return. Since my last visit decades ago, the downstairs area has been given a revamp; the stage is now at the opposite end of the room, where the bar used to be, with a mural of Detective Columbo as a practical reminder of where to face. Actually, the position of the mic stand and the chairs help, too.   

The show is sold out despite the 2:30 p.m. start on a Friday afternoon. Stuart Mitchell is the draw for many of the crowd, which has a predominantly elderly demographic. There was a bit of impolite forcefulness as punters converged on the stair entrance from three directions, multiple people pushing in front of me after my wife went through. Such was their enthusiasm to grab the best seats.  

Downstairs, the semi-circle front row had been heavily populated by grey/balding old men, all friends from Motherwell. As Stuart remarked, they gave the place the appearance of a prostate ward, cue mime pulling on the surgical gloves. 

Stuart is hosting, not headlining, much to one woman's vocal disappointment. He has to remind her of the show's title, emphasising the 'And Friends' part. As host, he shows off his crowd-work skills for which he is famous on the old internet. He gets some mileage from the Motherwell grandpas, one of whom claims to work at Edinburgh Zoo. The punter's replies are quick-witted, the banter bouncing back and forth, with others joining in. Who knew a Friday afternoon crowd could be so rowdy? Especially with a Chief Detective Inspector from the Paisley Police Office in attendance.

The first act is Rosco Mclelland, who is in his thirties and is younger than everyone in the audience as far as I can see. I'd watched his recent Edinburgh show online, and he used bits from it today, but not enough for it to feel like a repeat. At times, it felt like he was slogging through his material, trying to connect with this crowd and stop them from veering off into heckle-land or starting conversations. We weren't his normal demographic.

Aside: He revealed he'd had his teeth fixed in an attempt to appear more tv-friendly, just as BBC Scotland admitted they had no money left for new programmes.     

After the interval, Stuart dropped a bombshell: the zookeeper was, in fact, a car salesman. He was miffed because it scuppered the joke he'd written at the break especially for him, asking, "What Koala-fications do you need to work at the zoo? 

After more banter with Mr Mercedes, Stuart introduced his Glesga Da, Raymond Mearns, as headliner. Raymond has been on the circuit for decades. I'd even seen him perform (badly) in this venue back then when he died on his arse. Today, he fared better. His rough and ready Glaswegian material won over the crowd, though he did give both barrels to the grandpas to ensure they knew who was in charge. 

This show went over well as a wee early Christmas treat. Hopefully, when I see Stuart perform again, the crowd will be better behaved but just as funny.   

Ticket Price (for two): £19.80 (incl. £1.80 booking fee) from WeGotTickets. 

Simon Brodkin "Screwed Up", The Pavilion, Glasgow. Tuesday 3rd December, 2024

 

Did Simon Brodkin screw up when he booked a second date at The Pavilion for his current tour?  Not as far as I was concerned, although I think he expected to sell a few more tickets than he did. The first show sold out but that had been for a Saturday night in September, not midweek in December. It was always going to be a difficult sell, especially for the same tour, not fresh material. The Pavilion had done its best to make the theatre appear full, moving the Balcony ticketholders down to the Stalls, but even then, the empty seats were noticeable. 

With no support act, Simon did both halves of the show himself. Opening with some crowd work, he struggled slightly with his picks, not initially finding comedy gold. Occasionally, he struggled with the local accent. He got better when he switched to asking if there were particular workers present, like teachers or those in the NHS, so he could use his prepared material. 

By chance, he did uncover one audience member who claimed to work as a Radiation Plate Operator (or something similar, I can't remember exactly) on a nuclear submarine. Probing deeper with lots of questions about the job, Simon started to doubt the man's sincerity and asked if anyone else worked in a nuclear submarine. 

One man further back  piped up, "I used to."

 "And what did you do there?" Simon asked,

 "I was a Radiation Plate Operator."

Big laughs from the crowd. 

The second half of the show was entirely prepared material, starting with his opinions on Harry and Meghan and then going all over the place from there. His writing is sharp, with lots of excellent lines. I had watched him perform some of the jokes online, but not many. He gets away with his inherent cheeky persona because he is from London; the joke is often on him, and we know he's only joking.

The pedant in me took issue with a couple of his jokes. His routine about half-price morning after pills in Boots didn't fly with me because, in Scotland, you can get them free at any pharmacy as part of the Emergency Contraception Service.  And I can't remember now what the second one was.

I especially enjoyed his finale, in which the wife of his best friend asked him to provide his eulogy. He began by apologising for not knowing her name (the joke being that men don't talk to one another about their lives), his ignorance escalating from there to a sublime "Would You Rather... Or" callback which almost didn't need telling, the laughing audience way ahead.

Simon's career has evolved from a chav character act to a global stage prankster to a confident stand-up performer. I'd say, in this respect, he hasn't screwed up, no matter the diagnosis from his doctor. I look forward to seeing what he does next.

After the show, I put my right arm into my jacket sleeve and discovered where the contents of the knocked-over can of Heineken I'd noticed under my seat at the interval had gone. I didn't realise the sleeve was so absorbent, so I ended up carrying the jacket back to the car instead of wearing it. Fortunately, the rain had stopped, and there was only a faint smell of alcohol. 

Ticket Price: £29.50 x 2 plus Service fee £3.95. Total £62.95 from Trafalgar Tickets (£1.50 more than he charged for his September gig, the chancer).

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