All Keeley photographs courtesy of Chris Hogge Photography
Wednesday 20th September in Glasgow was a special night for a select gathering of gig goers with clearly impeccable musical taste. What was special about this date? Well, it marked the debut Glasgow gig for a certain lyricist and guitarist extraordinaire Keeley Moss and her band Keeley. A date which, for many of us in attendance, has been a long time coming, after falling in love and feeling a strong affinity her music, songs, and their subject matter from day one, wishing for the day to come when we could finally witness these remarkable songs played live.
It may have been a long wait, but as the old cliché goes, good things come to those who wait This wait was well worth it, the live Keeley experience exceeding lofty expectations.
Having only communicated via a variety of online mediums up until now, it was an honour and privilege to finally meet, face to face, not only this extraordinary artist in her own right, but a fellow music fan with such a knowledge of, and a voracious appetite for, music. Keeley is someone who I have felt a connection with from the off through her music, and subsequent online chats and conversations, reviews, and interviews since she first released her unique songs and music.
This was a series of first, not only the first-time seeing Keeley, and for her and her band playing in Glasgow for the first time, it was also my first experience of the support band. A band which has been recommended to me countless times but who I’d yet to experience in the flesh. I’m glad to say The Guillotines also more than lived up to the recommendations.
The band kind of fill a Rancid shaped hole in my gig calendar, but with added trumpet and trombone, since the US ska-punk band seems to have forgotten about the very existence of Glasgow on all their recent visits to the UK. The Guillotines absolutely know how to get a party started, and within seconds blasted any cobwebs, and thoughts of the miserable weather outside away with their infectious rabble-rousing ska punk anthems and between song repartee. Closing their set with Bojo the Clown, I have to say that any band that despises the Tories as much as I do are winners in my book. I’ll definitely be heading to see them again.
And so, to the nights headline act. This was only the sixth live outing for the transcendent trio that make up Keeley’s band, Keeley herself on guitar and vocals, Luke on bass, and Tom (who also played with Irish legends Microdisney) on drums. The threesome are so in tune with each other you would never have guessed how few gigs they had played unless Keeley hadn’t revealed it herself. The whole set was outstanding, with songs played from across all Keeley’s EP’s, singles and of course the debut long-player Floating Above Everything Else.
A mark of the songs and their popularity with Keeley’s dedicated following that it was a good few songs into the set before the band played a song from the album, and what a list of songs that was opening with Last Words and taking us on an emotional journey with Where the Monster Lives, Shadow on the Hills, Scratches on Your Face, Boarded Up in Belfast and Railway Stations before To a London Sunrise from that most glorious of albums. The set was not marred for one second even with Luke’s minor bass guitar glitch, as it allowed Keeley to share a song never before played live, a stunning, and hauntingly touching, You Were the Beauty.
For anyone unfamiliar with the music of Keeley, the band is a unique proposition. Keeley dedicates ALL her song writing to one subject, the murder of 18-year-old German backpacker, Inga Maria Hauser in 1988. Railway Stations took on an additional poignancy on the night as Keeley made an impassioned speech between songs from the Nice n Sleazy stage about her obsession with the story of Inga Maria, and her dedication to the cause of ensuring she is never forgotten, her memory living on through her songs and music.
If Inga Maria were alive today, she would not only be blown over by the quality of the music and the song writing, but she would be staggered and delighted at the dedication and blood, sweat and tears Keeley has put into her cause.
The other thought that was triggered while spellbound and immersed in the poignant and thoughtful lyrics was the duality of those lyrics. When you know who they are written about, and read Keeley’s blog, The Keeley Chronicles the significance, passion and emotion are palpable. However, if you didn’t know the story, or step away from that meaning, the songs also have an innate ability to touch a nerve, taking on potentially personal significance to the listener as they relate to the stories told and pictures painted in the lyrics.
In case it wasn’t obvious, I love music, more than that, specifically I love live music. Regardless of how much I love a band or their album’s, nothing beats standing in a venue, lost in the moment, both rapt by the atmosphere, and wrapped up in my own world, living and breathing the music. Keeley’s between song interaction summed it up perfectly on the night, the only thing she genuinely believes in is music, and its ability to make you forget all your problems and the shit that clogs up your life and living in that moment.
Not only that, but Keeley’s unique blend of 1980/90’s indie guitar, shoegaze, ethereal dream pop took on an extra edge in the live arena that you just don’t get on a record. An experience that can only be felt if you’re there, one that can’t ever be re-lived, other than in your memories. The songs that I imagine most of the people around the room already loved took on an extra resonance when played live.
Echo Everywhere did exactly that as it reverberated around the room, while Last Words got two airings on the night, after Keeley was dissatisfied with the way it sounded the first time around (which to be fair, to my ears had already sounded pretty damned good).
You often go to gigs in our Dear Green Place when the bands gush disingenuously about loving playing in Glasgow. When Keeley mentioned Glasgow being a special place, and referencing Inga Maria passing through on her journey, you believed her, and when she starts talking about the bands from the city, “reeling” off a list of Simple Minds albums in the process, her genuine love of music shines through.
For everyone who had waited so long for this gig, I’m sure like me, it was a gig of highlight after highlight Arrive Alive, and a first airing for Dead on Arrival particular highs, alongside, of course, one of the songs that started it all, the exquisite The Glitter and the Glue, and the appropriately touching final song to leave a lasting impression, Never Here Always There.
This is a gig, and a night in general, that will live long in the memory, with Keeley hanging around before the gig, during The Guillotines and after the bands played ensuring she spent time talking to everyone who wanted to express their love and gratitude for what she does. Keeley and her music hold a special part in many of our hearts, as the story of Inga Maria does in hers.