16th April 2023 in Glasgow’s Room 2 stripped years off me, maybe not physically, but certainly mentally. First (pardon the pun), I’d seen Then Jerico way back in November & December 1987 in the QMU and Edinburgh Playhouse respectively on the Winter Safari tour at the ripe old age of 18, fast forward to ‘89 and this time it was the Playhouse and the famous Barrowland for the Big Area tour. I may have aged 33 years in the interim but in Room 2 on Sunday night, as stage time approached, I felt the same youthful exuberance I’d felt all those years ago, a giddy sense of anticipation potentially unbecoming of a man of my advancing years.
However, the ability live music has to transport you to another time and space, to almost blank out your worries even just for an hour or two, allowing you to throw caution to the wind, shuffling off the shackles of time and societal expectations to not give one solitary fuck about what anyone else thinks as you dance around like a possessed maniac was manifesting itself strongly. As Mark Shaw took to the stage launching into Let Her Fall, it was as if the last 30 odd years had never happened, I was back in my 18 year old mind in the West End of Glasgow living my best life dancing as if there was no tomorrow.
I won’t lie, in the run up to the gig, I was concerned I’d be disappointed. After all, this wasn’t the Then Jerico I’d seen all those years ago, would the experience tarnish my memories? Would I end up regretting trying to re-live my youth by snapping up a ticket the second they went on sale? Any doubts evaporated the instant “Another face turned to the wall” left Mark Shaw’s lips, in fact, they had already evaporated the instant he took to the stage.
Hey, we’ve all been through loads of shit in the intervening years, as Shaw alluded to at the start of one of the night’s highlights for me, early single, the incredible Fault, but despite it all, tonight was all about the reminiscing, it was all about reliving that enthusiastic spiritedness on hearing these songs again in a live environment after such a gap, (having missed the gig 10 years ago due to family illness). But it wasn’t just about hearing the songs live, it was seeing them delivered with such an energetic fervour and passion by such a consummate performer. Mark worked the entire audience for the whole show, there was no way he would be satisfied standing centre stage at a mic stand singing the songs. He’s all about getting involved, moving from stage left to stage right, focussing his attention on people throughout the venue, smiling and making eye contact, reaching out into the crowd for handshakes. I was so lost in the music, I imagine I was probably too excited for a bloke of my age when he pointed directly at me as I was belting out the lyrics to Prairie Rose.
I already mentioned Fault as being one of my highlights of the night, but if I’m being honest, it was highlight after highlight for the duration. I’d be doing a dis-service to the band and Mark to highlight any “toilet or bar moments”, you know that bit at a gig when you take your chance to nip to the loo or grab a drink during one of those songs you don’t like as much. That moment never came, I was stood at the bar, awaiting with anticipation each song as it came along, I’m sure I must have let out a small yelp, or intake of breathe as each song started, if not a primal holler, which may have escaped my lips on occasion. Every hit was aired the from the palpable raw emotion of The Motive, through the epic Big Area, the sexual tension of Sugarbox, the euphoria of What Does it Take…. but, Every. Single. Song. the band performed was worth high praise. I said I wasn’t going to single out songs, but the sinister threat in The Hitcher, the celebratory nature of Blessed Days, the absolute classic album track that is A Quiet Place….I could go on…
The band left the stage after causing some hysteria with Big Area, returning for an encore initially bringing the pace down with In Your Darkest Hour, which took on a particular significance to me following some earlier conversations. The band then brought the house down with a powerful rendition of Reeling to end the set… or not… the lights came on and people started leaving, only for Mark and Co. to return to the stage for an enthusiastic reception for their take on Roxy Music’s Prairie Rose to send everyone away absolutely buzzing about the spectacle they had just witnessed.
Can we do it all again soon?
I écho every single comment,I wasn’t at this gig,I attended the Birmingham one but what a night,like you said the years fall away.
Considering a few years ago Mark shattered both his ankles you’d never know the way he jumps around the stage,what a frontman.