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

Thursday, 23 November 2023

The Sisters of Mercy, Barrowlands, Glasgow. Thursday 23rd November 2023

This gig was originally scheduled for Wednesday 22nd November at SWG3 but got switched "due to phenomenal demand" when the original night sold out so quickly. A wise move as they managed to fill the Barrowlands too.

I'd never seen them before live yet still felt nostalgic when I heard they were coming to town. You see, back in my youth, in the late '80s, I used to play the Cyberpunk 2020 RPG. I had a character called Sloan, a fixer who owned The Rainbow's End, a nightclub in a seedy part of Night City, where bands such as the Ghosts of Elvis played regularly. Sloan had a mohawk, a kaftan and a way with the ladies. During these sessions, The Sisters of Mercy became our regular background music while we roleplayed hacking into Corporation data fortresses, taking out security details and assassinating high-profile targets for profit. We were street punks with lofty ambitions. Not everyone survived.

Anyway...

I had low expectations for this gig after reading the recent tour reviews. The guitarist had been sacked mid-set during one gig and feedback suggested Andrew Eldritch's vocals were not up to scratch. But you still go along and judge it for yourself.

The Virginmarys were on support duties. No messing about. Two blokes on the stage, one with guitar, the other on drums. Their punk rock sound could have been distilled from the spirit of Dave Grohl in his more shouty days. I enjoyed them. At least this time, they didn't burst my eardrums, figuratively speaking.

A colleague had warned me I might not get to see the band given the copious amounts of dry ice the band were known to use on stage. That didn't happen so much tonight. They varied the lighting and colour scheme with dry ice evident but not overpowering. I liked the music, helped in part thanks to the crowd around me being really up for a good time. They were a mix of young ones, old rockers, punks and ladies with coloured hair, tattoos and black lipstick. They danced, whistled and shouted out the lyrics. It was hot and sweaty.

Andrew Eldritch made no effort to engage the crowd, never once mentioning the city name, giving us a solitary thank you at the end of the set. His vocals were as I expected, growly and muffled. The two guitarists seemed content to play their part, the new replacement happily bouncing about, even once knocking into Andrew, triggering a tense moment when the singer waited for an apology. I sensed another imminent sacking. But the band played on and Andrew got on with it. No choice really when the drum machine and bass are playing from a laptop. Not much room for improvisation.

The set was different to what I expected with more of the well-known songs mixed in rather than being at the beginning and end. I had a good night.

I also got to meet the real-life Sloan, with his mohawk (but no kaftan) and cool, stylish girlfriend, straight from my Cyberpunk character sheet. It felt like I was back at The Rainbow's End nightclub watching the Ghosts of Elvis again. Afterwards, he told me how much he loved the band and how this was his first time seeing them, having always missed their tours while working abroad. I wanted to ask for their picture for this blog but bottled it. It would have been difficult to explain why. Nevertheless, here they are.

Ticket Price: £48.20 (after fees, and souvenir ticket) from Ticketmaster. Face value: £36.50.

(performance: 1hr 20 mins)

Setlist

Doctor Jeep / Detonation Boulevard

Don't Drive on Ice

Ribbons

Alice

Summer

Dominion

I Will Call You

Marian

Giving Ground (The Sisterhood cover)

Eyes of Caligula

But Genevieve

I Was Wrong

Here

When I'm on Fire

On the Beach

Temple of Love

Encore:

Lucretia My Reflection

This Corrosion

The Virginmarys

There's always one tit
who pushes in before the main act

He wasn't singing 'I'm a little teapot'

Tuesday, 25 April 2023

Massive Wagons, "Triggered" UK Tour 2023, La Belle Angele, Edinburgh. Tuesday 25th April, 2023

Tour blurb (edited)

Following on from the tremendous success of their co-headline tour with Ugly Kid Joe, rabble-rousing road dogs MASSIVE WAGONS have announced a new 10-date headline tour of the UK in April 2023, in support of their rifftastic new album ‘Triggered!‘ which crashed straight into the UK official album chart at #6 upon release, marking the second Top 10 album for the Lancaster band.

Frontman Barry “Baz” Mills declares, “Straight back at it, it’s what we do innit! If you came out to see us with Ugly Kid Joe and you enjoyed the experience then why not come and see us again on the ‘TRIGGERED’ headline tour! Loved playing tracks from the new album, gonna shake it up with some more new one's cos they have been really fun to play… hopefully, we are hitting up a town somewhere near you, grab a ticket and come join the fun!”

'Triggered' was one of my favourite albums of last year so when I heard the band were touring I looked up the dates and discovered their only Scottish gig was in Edinburgh. I hummed and hawed. Was it worth the journey through? The album is really good. What the hell, let's do this. It'll be a little adventure. I booked the time off work and bought the tickets.

I'd never been to La Belle Angele before. It's a small club down a back alley in the Cowgate. We migrated to a round, white, high table in the middle of the dancefloor happy to have a clear view of the stage.

The Virginmarys came on at 7.20 pm. The duo play loud rock akin to Royal Blood or Slaves. And they were loud. I could feel the bass drum vibrations through my pint tumbler and when the lead singer scream-growled out the lyrics, my ears hurt like the sound was trying to scour out my earwax. Not a pleasant feeling but I still enjoyed what they played. It had a raw rockiness that appealed.

Before the main act, two giants pushed into the space on the opposite side of our table between us and the stage, two pints each in hand. There was no politeness in the way they invaded the space. The couple who had been standing there were elbowed out of the way so the ogres could put down their pints.

The table proved a mixed blessing. Now the venue was packed, it attracted punters like the shipwrecked to a desert island, unaware the gap in the crowd was due to a table. Once they arrived, there was nowhere else for them to go so the surroundings became more and more cramped, bodies constantly bumping into one another. There wasn't even space to raise an arm to salute the band.

Massive Wagons came on at 8.30 pm and played for an hour and a half, missing out some of their bigger hits in favour of some oldies, plus a trio of cover songs that expressed the variety of their influences (see the setlist below).

The lead singer, Baz, is charismatic, like a Lancastrian Noddy Holder, complete with porkpie hat and massive sideburns, only with a long, dark mane that stretches down his back. I'd read that he recently had vocal problems but there was little evidence of it tonight. The stage wasn't that big but he still managed to twirl his mic stand and pace about the stage like a rapper. I couldn't see much of the rest of the band because of the ogres, especially when they leaned closer together to chat, which they did a lot.

I wouldn't have been so annoyed at them - they had to stand somewhere - except when the one in the Sticky T-shirt returned from the toilet, he manhandled a small chap who'd migrated into his space, physically grabbing him by the shoulder and forcing him aside. The chap had to spend the rest of the gig with his view blocked. This spoiled the gig for me. The venue should really keep a separate area for thugs like this - Kunt Korner - somewhere near the bar and the toilet but away from the rest of us. Call the thugs VIPs but don't tell them the P stands for Prick.

With my view obscured, I just had to listen to the music. When they played Generation Prime, I found myself taken over by the track. My head and body started rockin, like I would have done in my youth. Then I felt the nudge of two folded arms in my back as the punter behind protected himself from my gyrations. A sombre reflection of a sad situation, having done that myself many times at previous gigs. I just wasn't allowed to enjoy myself.

Oh well, can't have everything. Where would you put it?

I would go back and see Massive Wagons again but only in a bigger venue. I'm getting too old for this cramped club shite.

Ticket Price: £22.50 inc fees.

Setlist

Gone Are the Days

Triggered

Never Been a Problem

A.S.S.H.O.L.E.

Sawdust

Buck

Hallescrewya

Fuck the Haters