Friday finally arrived in a week when I felt entirely discombobulated. On a daily basis I had no clue what day of the week or what time of the day it was. All I did know was that was desperate for the weekend to arrive and for it to start with another Last Night From Glasgow launch night in the impressive surroundings of Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts.
This time around it was a double whammy, with wojtek the bear’s album heaven by the back door released on the label’s Hive imprint earlier in the year (review here), and headliners, Broken Chanter new album Catastrophe Hits seeing the light of day just the the other week (review here).
I’ve said before that Last Night From Glasgow sometimes feels like an extended family, there is always a great vibe at the shows and they also serve as a great opportunity to meet and catch up with loads of wonderful people. Friday night was a packed night and a busy door, so I got roped into helping (or hindering?) with the highly important job of issuing pink wristbands, apologies if I stuck them onto anyone’s arms… All joking aide, I was happy to help, and it allowed me to meet lots more lovely folk. Going along to these shows has seen some lovely new friendships flourish, hopefully friendships for life.
wojtek the bear
So to the music. Despite this being their second full length album, this was the first time I’ve managed to see wojtek the bear live. It certainly won’t be the last. There is so much emotion in the new album, and the music is glorious in its understated beauty. These songs translated perfectly into the live arena. The CCA seemed like a perfect platform for the performance, and the audience was both rapt and sensitive. You could hear a pin drop between songs, such was the understanding of the crowd and their engagement with the music. So much so, lead singer Tam joked about it between songs.But as I have said before, music doesn’t have to be loud and fast to be powerful. The power is in the songwriting and arrangements, and boy did some of these songs have the power to move the soul tonight.Beautiful
Broken Chanter
Broken Chanter’s set was nothing short of immense. Made up of tracks from Catastrophe Hits, and their debut self-titled album. David MacGregor has built quite an extraordinary live band around him, a veritable supergroup if you like. With one of the two best drummers currently in Scotland, Audrey Tait, on drums (the other being the also very much in demand Lesley McLaren), fresh from the recent Franz Ferdinand announcement, the supremely talented Man of the Minch on fiddle, bass player extraordinaire, Charlotte Printer, the silken backing vocals of Lauren Gilmour (aka The Girl Who Cried Wolf) and the excellent Bart Owl on guitar.
Of course, all of these musicians are stars in their own right, incredibly talented musicians who are at the height of their art, but the thing that pulled them all together and made everything shine tonight was the quality of the songs that come from the pen of David MacGregor, and the remarkably effective arrangements.
David has the ability to move you in so many different ways, all within one song, anger at the state of the world, joy at the wonder of nature, laughter at some of his witticisms while simultaneously tugging at the heartstrings. A lot of thought was put into the make up of this set tonight, to do just that. Songs to let you revel in the joy of music, songs to break your heart and songs to inspire
The set was filled with highlights but if I was to pick some I’d have to say Beside Ourselves, during which I was absolutely mesmerised and engrossed watching and listening to Charlotte and Audrey gel and build an extraordinary amount of emotion while doing so. Talking of emotion, penultimate song A Sad Display had me coming out in goosebumps (a tip to anyone who might want to go on Taskmaster…) the refrain of “keep moving, keep moving, keep moving” certainly moved me. The two songs that have remained stuck in my head as earworms since Friday though are Dancing Skeletons and Allow Yourself, both of them among the most inspirational and uplifting songs on the album, and in tonight’s set. Certainly more than enough to send me away with a spring in my step and a smile on my face, ready to take on all comers.
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