Gut Reactions (post-gig memories and other trips): The Commoners

Friday, 5 December 2025

The Commoners, "Ghosts on the Highway" Tour. Stereo, Glasgow. Friday 5th December 2025.

I nearly bailed on this gig. I wasn't feeling 100%, my stomach churning, like something bad was going to come out (again). I'd arrived too late to join my mates in the pub, so I messaged them to meet me at the doors (I was holding the tickets). For the next twenty-five minutes, I had to dodge drunks, beggars and addicts, who staggered, wanted money and acted unhinged, respectively, before they eventually appeared. By that time, the support act was already on stage, and the crowd had filled the front half of the room.

Another gig with shit photos and no videos.

But that isn't why you go to gigs, I hear you say. It's for the atmosphere and the music.

That's true, and it's the reason I stayed (plus I was their lift home).

The support act, Candar, was okay. A bit like a reverse White Stripes (girl on guitar, guy on drums), but without the cracking riffs and unstoppable energy. They were young, so still time to grow (or give up).

The Commoners were excellent, once I'd accepted the poor view. The last time I saw them was at the Maid of Stone festival, where they didn't impress me. They are not a mid-afternoon outdoor band. It's a more magical experience seeing them under the artificial lights, the sound bouncing off the walls, coming at you from all angles, not that you can tell because it's so loud. Their groove gets under your skin. You find yourself swaying to the rhythm, your head rocking from side to side. You feel young again, alive. The best feeling in the world (with your clothes on, I'm told).

They didn't play for very long, just under an hour and a half, but it was enough. I got annoyed at myself for believing the 'one last song' routine, having failed to check the setlist in advance. After the show, the lead singer waited on the stairs and greeted everyone, shaking hands, posing for photographs and signing merchandise. Nice to see, and everyone appreciated him taking the time to do it, except the venue staff, who insisted we leave as quickly as possible. I always thought the curfew meant the band had to finish at that time, not that the venue had to be cleared.

We discussed Scotland's World Cup group on the way home. There's hope, and there's Scotland.

Setlist (may be inaccurate - taken from previous gigs on this tour as no listing available for this one)
Gone Without Warning
The Way I Am
Runnin' Blind
Just Watch Me
Devil Teasin' Me
Too Soon to Know You
Restless
See You Again
Alive
Searching (For Something) (New song)
Ghosts On The Highway
Fill My Cup
Find a Better Way

Encore:
Shake You Off

Ticket Price: £22 x 3 plus £1 transaction fee = £67 from Gigantic

From the band's FB page

Band backstage photo from their FB page.

Friday, 20 October 2023

Samantha Fish + Jesse Dayton, Barrowlands, Glasgow. Friday 20th October, 2023

An unexpected gig for me. I accepted the offer to go along because someone dropped out. I wasn't familiar with her tunes except for a few streams on Amazon Music.

We started the evening at the pub, The Sir John Moore, where we table shuffled, like everyone else, to accommodate our party. The food was good, the (soft) drink was cheap and the company was great.

Then I drove across town to find a parking bay near the Barrowlands. Plenty of choice. The venue was the quietest I'd ever seen it. Usually, the long bar is open at the side but tonight that whole area was cordoned off with barriers and curtains. Instead, Sam's Bar (the small one near the upstairs doors) was open. This also meant the trestle table sites where sweets and soft drinks were usually sold were absent. Tonight's patrons were on the mature side, unlikely to trouble the Consumer Division of Just for Men (mostly grey or bald). With plenty of space, we took up our position in the middle/left of the dancefloor.

It did get busier but not a sell-out.

The support act was The Commoners. Their website describes them as "possessing a sound tapped from the oaken belly of a whiskey barrel, (they) are a 5-piece Roots/Rock outfit from Toronto, Canada. I was unaware of their work but found them rather excellent. They looked like they'd time-travelled from the mid1970s, with their hippy clothes and facial hair, but I enjoyed them so much I streamed their album on the way home. The following day, I was surprised to hear them again, being played on the Planet Rock Weekend Breakfast Show (I was in the shower at the time, thinking there's another band that sounds like The Commoners). Bob bought one of their T-shirts (design as below) and Alex bought their CD, which is great for a support act, previously unknown to us.

By the time the main act took the stage, the dancefloor was still spacious (except in front of Bob where one long-haired bloke and his girlfriend decided to slide in just before the lights went down).

From the start, Samantha Fish, dressed in a black leather jacket and gold spandex flares, looked uncomfortable with her sound, often fiddling with her earpiece and gesturing to the engineers to up it. Her vocals reminded me of a cross between Amy Whitehouse and Dolly Parton. She's an accomplished guitarist with a great presence on stage and this tour was to support her album with Jesse Dayton, a musician/actor/record producer from Austin, Texas. He was pulling the cool dude vibe, dressed in black, firing up his guitar chords.

But...

The combination of Sam and Jesse didn't quite work. Having the two up front diluted the performance rather than enhancing it. His guitar playing is good but not outstanding, compared to Samantha's. He played twiddly bits while Sam soloed which was distracting, as if he wanted to show off what he could do too. When Jesse was front and centre, it felt like a different concert. I preferred it when Sam was leading.

Overall, the night was okay. The worst bit was the drive home in the rain with the M8 shut, having to find our way home through the Southside.

Setlist

Kick Out the Jams (MC5 cover)

Deathwish

Feelin' Good (Little Junior’s Blue Flames cover)

Hello Stranger (Barbara Lewis cover)

Brand New Cadillac (Vince Taylor & The Playboys cover)

Settle for Less

Bulletproof (Tangle Eye Mix) (Samantha Fish cover)

Down in the Mud

No Apology

Trauma