Hue and Cry, Paisley Town Hall. Sat 26th March 2016

The support act was Emily Middlemass, with a young backing band of teenagers, none of whom would have had any chance of being served alcohol at the bar. No pics because it felt really awkward to photograph her. She is 15/16 and looks about thirteen. She has a good pop voice and a rock/ pop sound, writes her own material, which is teen catchy, and has appeared on the X Factor, but it felt wholly inappropriate for a late-forty-odd male to be excited by her. I had to look away as she sat on the edge of the stage, fearing a Britney Spears exposure moment. Aside from a misfire finale of The Killers 'All These Things I've Done' (her only cover), she rocked the town hall. Early days for her, though. I may revisit when it's legal.

I was a big fan of Hue and Cry in the eighties and early nineties, seeing them perform in all sizes of venues, but lost my way after Stars Crash Down. Tonight the Kane brothers brought the full band to Paisley.Their show was a fair mix of all their stuff: the early pop classics, the Hue and Cry faves. to some newer jazzy stuff I'd not heard before.

I wasn't sure what to make of the audience. At first, I thought they were just Paisley punters there because it was in Paisley but not necessarily fans. I was surprised that so many sang along. The older stuff worked better, being more familiar. When they played the newer stuff a noticeable chunk of the audience made their way to the toilets or the bar for an empty/refill. Surrounded a mix of males and females of an older age group, I became aware tonight of the function of a beer belly - to rest one's pint on, with lots of men adopting this cosy position.

I didn't rate the trumpet player or the guitarist but the rest of the band were solid. Pat Kane's ego could fill any hall and he still gives a great performance, belting out the tunes and jerking his moves to the music. The sound was a little too loud for the venue (a bit distorted and screechy at times) and my ears are still ringing and probably will be for days. They gave us an hour and a half which was fine for Paisley.

Thank you to Jackie Mills for finding me a ticket after the gig sold out. It's lovely when a customer can repay your years of caring service with a favour. Cheers, Jackie.

Adele, SSE Hydro, Glasgow. Fri 25th March 2016.

From the gods of the Hydro three rows from the roof, I enjoyed tonight's Adele concert. Unlike the Marillion lyrics of my youth, I cannot recite the words to every one of her songs but most of the audience (girls, gays and boyfriends, mostly) could. She has a great voice and a genuine affection for her audience. The sound in the auditorium was really sharp, at least until the encore when a bit of echo crept in.

I noted a lot of the females around me (just generally) really felt touched (not by me) emotionally (drunk?), as if her words were really speaking to them and I don't mean the occasional 'shit, fuck' that peppered her between-song chats.

She is very open with her audience, wiggling waves at them while singing, engaging and friendly, even autographing a boy's chest on stage while his boyfriend took pictures, then selfies and hugs.

It's a deceptively simple show (no support act) focusing on her and her songs. She doesn't have a lot of dance numbers in her back catalogue which didn't stop one girl a couple of rows in front of me doing her best impression of a forecourt inflatable sign, arms flapping in the air randomly while holding a half-empty plastic beer cup; or the mother, whose seven (?) year old daughter brought her cuddly rabbit, who rocked and pointed like Mo Farah to the music at any opportunity. I mock them only because I am too reserved to show any dance moves beyond tapping my feet and occasionally swaying. Plus there was the fear of falling. And I have a cold. But I'm getting off the point.

She is who she is and she gave a good two and a half hours tonight. The staging was clever and not too showy. Not many 27-year-olds in the music biz can match her for personality, ability and talent. You wouldn't want to mess with her. So well done Adele.

Setlist

Hello

Hometown Glory

One and Only

Rumour Has It

Water Under the Bridge

I Miss You

Skyfall

Million Years Ago

Don't You Remember

Send My Love (to Your New Lover)

Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)

Sweetest Devotion

Chasing Pavements

Someone Like You

Set Fire to the Rain

Encore:

All I Ask

When We Were Young

Rolling in the Deep

LIMMY LIVE! SEC Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow. Sun 31st Jan 2016.

Quite a few empty seats down in the stalls was perhaps symptomatic of a Sunday night show in Glasgow rather than the enthusiasm of the audience. To me it felt like a Limmy's Show memorial with an appreciative audience there to pay their respects. Referencing material from the show extracted laughs, eg Dee Dee mentioning Yoker, without it actually being funny in itself.

It was fine. Some good laughs, a bit of gentle audience participation (but only if they were up for it) and lots of the C-word. 'She's turned the weans against me' was clever, starting in the balcony, then descending to the circle then the stalls, all the while extending the joke (top floor - novelty of being there, upper circle down to his pants, front circle his plastic dobber flops out, stalls reveals the skid marks on the pants) then a dance on the stage with floppy wiggling between his legs. The big screen links between sketches were inventive in the style of the tv show, playing with convention.

My main criticism is: this was Limmy Show Live! I would have preferred more new material, new characters and less reliance on goodwill. He was trading mostly on his old material rather than creating new stuff. But two hours (with a 15min interval) flew by so it wasn't all bad.

The supporting cast were excellent.

If he does another one, he's going to have to come up with fresh material.

Link to YouTube Clip 

Admiral Fallow, Celtic Connections, the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow. Sat 30th Jan 2016

Admiral Fallow played a sold-out gig at The Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow tonight. Support came in the shape of Hannah Lou Clark who strummed a distorted electric guitar, occasionally backed by a drum machine, while warbling away her songs. Nuff said about her.

Admiral Fallow have a very distinctive Scottish sound, due in part to the burl of lead singer Louis Abbot. They're hard to describe: imagine a pint of Scottish art college band, with a chaser of Mumford and Sons and a dash of Radiohead, then add extra percussion, a clarinet, flute and an accordion, then go and listen to them on Itunes. Good gig and a very eclectic crowd: from geriatrics down to teens all enjoying a Celtic Connection.

Setlist
Happened in The Fall
Carousel
Holding The Strings
Guest Of The Government
Dead Against Smoking
Subbuteo
Building As Foreign
Evangeline
Four Bulbs
Tree Bursts
The Paper Trench
Brother
Squealing Pigs
Easy As Breathing

Encore:
Liquor And Milk
Isn't This World Enough??
Old Balloons

Judas Priest, 'Redeemer of Souls' Tour 2015, Glasgow Barrowland. Tues 24th Nov 2015

Unlike Tom Russell, I don't think Judas Priest were sensational tonight at the Barrowlands. They were good, but a number of things counted against them: they only played for 90 minutes and Rob Halford had a tendency to remain off stage at the start of numbers while he changed his jacket (which he did for every song). It felt odd to hear the singer and scan the stage to look for him only to find him wander on a few lines into the song. Maybe there was a reason for it. Maybe he was just tired. Or lazy. Or old. I was disappointed by the way he engaged the audience. He never spoke to us until forty minutes in and it took another twenty to address us directly, his Glasgow audience. He strutted the stage like a WWE wrestler, arm aloft, waving his hand to cajole the audience to love him, which we did. Then he'd pop off during some of the guitar solos, rather than interact with the audience or the band. His voice was in fine tune though. I felt he phoned it in a bit tonight though. The younger guitarist was fantastic and the band sound was great so it wasn't all bad.

The support act Michael Schenker's Temple of God are a tight outfit. Their lead singer, Doogie White (who's also sung with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Yngwie Malmsteen) is an experienced frontman with all the rock moves. At 55 years old, he confessed to the crowd that this was his first time playing the Barrowland and, as a local boy from Motherwell, he felt proud. They kicked off their set with UFO's 'Doctor Doctor', one of my favourite rock songs and the audience loved it too. They also played other UFO songs, some of their own and 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' by The Scorpions. A great band and a shame they only got 45 mins.

Highlights of the gig for me were: the last track played over the PA before Priest came on stage was 'Black Sabbath' by Black Sabbath. The lights dimmed as it started giving the crowd a sense of anticipation and then everyone began to sing along as one. Memorable, given it wasn't a Sabbath gig; the song 'Breaking the Law' - as it started, the youngsters in the crowd, of which there were a few, kicked off a mosh pit about five feet from me. So much energy bouncing around as they flew at one another and into the audience around them. It was wild: a mix of sweat, alcohol and aggression, boiling up in a circle. I thought one young lad was going to erupt into violence as he stared then lunged towards someone, only to be hugged and calmed down by his mate, who then shoved him away to kick off another bout of moshing. Wonderful stuff and amusing to watch security eye them for trouble.

'Living After Midnight' was great but my favourite tune of the night was 'Turbo Lover', just because it's a great anthem, it's easy to sing along to and I know most of the words. My voice is hoarse tonight.

This was the second time I've seen Judas Priest (the last time was at the Edinburgh Playhouse in the 80s) and I think that will be enough. I'm glad I went for the experience.

It still feels weird to leave the Barrowland not stinking of cigarette smoke with a voice two octaves lower.

Setlist
War Pigs (Black Sabbath song) (tape)
Battle Cry (tape)
Dragonaut
Metal Gods
Desert Plains
Victim of Changes
Halls of Valhalla
The Rage
Turbo Lover
Redeemer of Souls
Beyond the Realms of Death
Screaming for Vengeance
Breaking the Law
Hell Bent for Leather

Encore:
The Hellion (tape)
Electric Eye
You've Got Another Thing Comin'

Encore 2:
Painkiller
Living After Midnight
Beginning of the End (tape)

Vintage Trouble, Glasgow Barrowland. Sun 8th Nov 2015

Another night, another gig: this time Vintage Trouble at the Barrowland.

Vintage Trouble are a hard-working band. In five years they've circumnavigated the globe five times playing their blues rock music with a gin joint twist. Having recently released their second album, 1 Hopeful Road, this is their largest headline tour of the UK, having previously supported Paloma Faith and AC/DC earlier this year. This is the third time I've seen them.

The frontman Ty Taylor has the swagger of Jagger and the moves of a young James Brown and dances a whirlwind not just around the stage but all over the hall. He spent a great deal of the show among the crowd, dancing with the ladies, crowd surfing from the back of the hall to the stage and getting everyone to crouch lower and lower until everyone was practically sitting on the floor. It was as if he'd used a giant ball to make a dent in the crowd, using the force of his personality to drive even the elderly to follow his dance moves down. The rest of the band are a tight outfit, but Ty is the energy. I think the reason I preferred this gig to last night's U2 gig is down to that energy. Both Bono and Ty had the crowd in the palms of the hands, but Bono was more like an elder statesman, respected for his past, his values and his ability, whereas Ty grabbed the crowd's attention and refused to stop until he owned everyone in the hall.

It left me on a high. Maybe that was because I was shaking my hips and generally boogying. Sadly no photos of this horrific sight. You'll just have to make do with these.

Setlist
Soul Serenity
Blues Hand Me Down
Angel City, California
Nancy Lee
Before the Tear Drops
Doin' What You Were Doin'
Another Man's Words
Shows What You Know
Nobody Told Me
You Better Believe It
Not Alright by Me

Encore:
Strike Your Light
Run Like the River
Pelvis Pusher

U2, 'iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Tour 2015', SSE Hydro, Glasgow. Sat 7th Nov 2015

Enjoyable gig. Really different feel with the hall split in two and the screens down the middle above the walkway.