I don’t often venture out to “bigger” gigs that often these days preferring to spent my hard earned bucks going to several small gigs rather than one big splurge. However, there are those gigs that come along that are a no-brainer and so I found myself in the Barrowland for the first time in an age having set my alarm to buy tickets for Sugar the moment they went on sale. I wasn’t missing this one for anyone…
If I thought the Hug and Pint was a sweat box on Sunday, it had nothing on the Barrowland, and that was even before Sugar made an appearance, I already had lines of perspiration running down my back and things were just going to get hotter in every way imaginable as Bob, David and Malcolm took to the stage and launched into The Act We Act the wall of sound created by the powerful trio hitting like a piledriver from the very first moment. From there on in there was as no let up as the immense Sugar juggernaut went from 0-60 within seconds creating a high octane adrenaline rush, their sonic assault laying waste to a packed ballroom, pummelling the crowd into wilful submission.
It was like the last 30 odd years never happened as Bob and Co. created a musical time machine, with every searing riff in each and every surging aural assault on the eardrums stripping away the years with ease. It’s hard to believe Bob Mould is 65 years young, the energy he exudes is worthy of a man half his age, with his distinct vocals as powerful and strident as ever, you just had to close your eyes for a moment and you were back in the mid 90s, all current troubles dissipating as your mind was taken over by the sheer exhilaration of the moment.
I’m not going to start listing every song the band played, I’d be here all day as one bruising thrill ride followed another in quick succession, nary time to breathe between songs. Suffice to say, they led a powerful charge from the off with two early set highlights of Good Idea and Changes hitting the heights and laying the foundations for what was to come. I started counting the songs but quickly ran out of fingers as the trio surged through the hits and deep cuts at a blistering pace, easily 24/25 songs in 90 minutes, including their 2 new singles from last year that announced their return to the fray, with only a couple of short pauses to introduce the band. As the band continued unabated, every song hit like an electrically charged and highly emotional gut punch, with some notable mid set highlights in a formidably crushing Clownmaster, a soaring Hoover Dam, and an impassioned Where Diamonds Are Haloes. Just when you think they’d wrung out every last ounce of energy the intensity increased again with knockout punch after knockout punch as they powered their way to the the end firing out an exuberant Tilted and a lacerating JC Auto on their way to their triumphant set closer If I Can’t Change Your Mind, from which the tour’s Love You Even Still title comes.
On the evidence of that performance Glasgow loves Sugar even still and this performance will live long in the memory.
What a gig. Great review – I’ve got goosebumps reading it, remembering all the great moments from the show. I’ll be honest and say I wondered whether it would be worth it, given how many times I’ve seen Bob solo and backed by Jason and Jon. However, I was won over from the start. David Barbe’s songs and vocals are so strong, and somehow Malcolm Travis’s drumming just makes it sound like Sugar.
It was quite phenomenal. I think I lost about 2 stone in sweat…