The oft rescheduled second night of the Last Night From Glasgow double header of Sister John/The Bluebells finally took place last night, and boy was it worth the wait.
The return to live music was apparent across the city with gigs ranging from The Monochrome Set to Vlure, When Rivers Meet to Dead Pony and Atom Age, and not one but two LNFG double headers, the other being St Dukes and The Muldoons in Stereo.
This time around it was The Bluebells kicking off the evening, one which saw both bands on fire both musically and with their on stage banter with the crowd.
The current line up of the Bluebells is like a supergroup, the McCluskey brothers and Bobby joined by Aztec Camera bass player Campbell Owens, Mick Slaven of Bourgie Bourgie/The Independent Group and the ubiquitous Douglas McIntyre who it feels is in every band in Glasgow.
The set was drawn from across the bands back catalogue kicking off with a wonderful Tender Mercy, and taking in all the hits, I’m Falling, Cath, and of course Young at Heart with a cameo from Beth from Massachusetts, but so much more, including a beautiful version of Some Sweet Day after a bit of a false start that had Ken taking the lead from a cry of 1,2,3 4 from the crowd and lunching into Crass, Do They Owe Us a Living, allowing David to fix his drum and continue unabashed.
The superb set was littered with tales from across the bands colourful history, including a story from Hodgens that I had to relate to my wife later, also being the Celtic supporting offspring of a Rangers fan.
The set ended with a couple of planned covers, firstly the laidback groove of The Velvet Underground’s What Goes On, followed by Buffalo Springfield’s Hey Children, Whats That Sound complete with guest sax, staring at the back of the room and grooving his way to the stage.
Time for a quick refuelling at the bar, and I hope the people I saw leaving the venue were just having a smoke. If not, they have no idea what they were about to miss…
Like The Bluebells before them, Sister John were on the form of their lives, the opening salvo of I’ll Be Your Life from I Am By Day (despite coming out last year, this was effectively their album launch gig) and the wondrous glory of I’m the One (“worth the ticket money alone” came a voice from behind me). From then on, things just kept going from strength to strength. Jonathan’s guitar lines were positively singing throughout, Amanda’s vocals hitting every nerve and emotion. And what about the multi talented Sophie and Heather? Bass, drums, fiddles/violas… a cornucopia of sheer elegant beauty in musical form. Special mention to Rory (Gracious Losers) and Erik who added their skills to the bands performance.
A particular highlight for me was their first ever live performance of Over Again. I was completely lost in the moment during this one, eyes closed and letting the music wash over me, i was literally fighting back tears. Extraordinarily moving. Judging by the roar that came up at the end I certainly wasn’t the only one to appreciate this.
The on stage chemistry between the band is so natural, with their in band banter often filtering into the crowd. Multi-instrumentalist Heather may be going solo after tonight’s gig, having had her name chanted on several occasions, before Bobby erroneously announcing she was single, only to be corrected by a voice from the crowd “shes with me!”
The set was packed with life affirming highlight after highlight, the brace of songs to end the set started with single How Do I Keep it Alive? before bringing a huge smile to my face with, probably my favourite song ever written about my home city, Glasgow is a Rainbow. i could have gone home happy at that point, but my grin was about to gain Cheshire Cat status…My soul was about to be well and truly singing.
Last Night From Glasgow is a runaway success story, no one can deny that, and if they try, well, they’re so wide of the mark, it would just come across as sour grapes. Sister John have been there since the get go and the finale of the evening was a tribute to the label. the song from which the label took its name. The Bluebells joined Sister John for this uplifting take on Super Trouper which had the whole place singing along in unison.
What a triumphant end to a triumphant evening. All power to both bands and the wonderful LNFG label. Keep the Faith. Onwards and Upwards to ever bigger and even better things (if that is possible!)
