GLASVEGAS SHOW WHAT WE HAVE BEEN MISSING AT THE ARTS CLUB, LIVERPOOL, UK, FEBRUARY 5TH 2022

 

 

IMAGES AND WORDS BY DESH KAPUR

 

“it’s that, familiar raw guitar-drenched sound that is instantly recognisable. It sits perfectly with the driving drums and sweet bass sound of Paul Donoghue. It is exactly what they say it is, “melodic pop and no-nonsense rock’n’roll”.

 

It’s always great when you get to checkout a new venue or a venue you have never been to before, and that was me on Saturday night, as I headed down to The Arts Club, Liverpool, to check out Glasvegas.

,Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, Glasvegas are a band that was once championed and managed by Creation Records’ guru Alan McGee, who went as far as to say that they could be as big as Oasis. NME declared their debut single “Daddy’s Gone” the second-best track of 2007, Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of their idol Elvis, was a fan after discovering them on Myspace. And Columbia Records threw bags of money in their direction to sign them. Big stuff indeed. Unfortunately, they never hit anywhere near those heights or seemed to fulfil the potential that was so obviously there. Why? Well, the story goes, on 8th September 2009, a Tuesday, bandmates Rab Allan and Paul Donoghue announced that singer James Allan had been missing since the previous Friday, which resulted in a no-show at the Mercury Prize awards ceremony, where they had been nominated for their self-titled debut album. He turned up five days later in New York and declared he’d had enough of being told where to go and what to do. Subsequently, they were dropped by Colombia Records, and it was two years before the band released another record and the demise of Glasvegas began.

So here we are, over a decade later, in a relatively small venue, considering the amazing success the band had with their first 3 singles and their debut album. But here we are anyway….

Firstly, I’d like to say I like Glasvegas a lot and I have the first album in my record collection, and it gets played enough to not gather dust, so I was very excited to see them for the first time.

I missed the first band but was there in plenty of time to grab a pint and set up my cameras before the stage went dark and the band walked on to great applause and cheers from the pretty full venue. Without a hello or airs and graces, the band kicked into “Dive” and the stage stayed very dark, making the band hard to see; they were only bathed in dim red and blue light and that never changed for the whole of the set, which I felt was a bit of a shame as I am not sure how the audience connects with a band they can’t really see, but we are here for the music right? Unless you are a photographer, then it was near impossible to get any images of quality, that would give you a visual feel off what it felt like to be there.

 

 

After starting with “Dive” which is from their new long-player “Godspeed” they followed that up with “Later” and “The World Is Yours” from Euphoric Heartbreak.

And it’s that, familiar raw guitar-drenched sound that is instantly recognisable, it sits perfectly with the driving drums and sweet bass sound of Paul Donoghue. It is exactly what they say it is, “melodic pop and no-nonsense rock’n’roll”. You pick up influences of The Velvet Underground, Echo and The Bunnymen, and Phil Spector’s wall of sound. James Allan songwriting is intense, his lyrics are self-reflecting as he sings about life’s fears, frustrations, and heartaches.

Tonight, the band play tracks that span their 4 records, their dark driving spin on indie rock is brilliant and the crowd are transfixed, some of the newer tracks seem to go over the audience head, but they are received well.

 

 

But it’s the big hitters that bring the house down and ironically enough they are all tracks off the first album “Daddy’s Home”. A track about the love between a young man and his absent dad who he rarely sees, has the whole venue singing along. “Flowers and Football Tops”, inspired by the murder of Glasgow teenager Kris Donald, sounds just as brilliant. “Geraldine”, an ode to the selflessness of social workers, named after Allan’s sister, has the whole venue singing and rocking. “Go Square Go”, is about fighting at school, it’s also the song that created the singalong, which has become the Scottish gig-goer’s chant of choice, “Here we, here we, here we fucking go”.  Then “Ice Cream Van” a song that was written over a decade ago but lyrically it might have been written about today.

And the night ends and everyone seems to have had a great time. I know I did, yes as I mentioned previously Glasvegas are intense, but James Allan has a brilliant voice and his poignant and heartfelt lyrics paint pictures and tell stories, the band is tight and live they are very good,

Hopefully, this is a revival of a band that will build on past success and accolades whilst adding more.

 

SET LIST

1/ DIVE

2/ LATER

3/ WORLD IS YOURS

4/ KEEP ME A SPACE

5/ GERALDINE

6/ WHATEVER HURTS

7/ SHAKE THE CAGE

8/ SECRET TRUTH

9/ FINISHED SYMPATHY

10/ ICE CREAM VAN

11/ IF

12/ IN MY MIRROR

13/ GO SQUARE GO

14/ DADDYS GONE

15/ FLOWERS AND FOOTBALL TOPS

16/ LOST SOMETIMES

17/ CHEATING HEART

 

 

 

 

 

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