An unusual set of circumstances today, it was hot in the city. Taps aff weather if you will. And I was going to a gig in Kelvingrove Bandstand. I’ve been to several of these before, and despite the summer dates, I have battled biting cold, light drizzle and heavier showers. Not so tonight, maybe not quite the taps aff weather it had been earlier in the day but certainly t-shirt and no jacket weather.
Baby Chaos
It was an early start having three bands on the bill that could each have been headliners in their own right, plus support from Baby Chaos. Managing to arrive in time to see the majority of Baby Chaos I was impressed with their three-pronged guitar attack, so much so, I came home with their new album Skulls, Skulls, Skulls – Show Me the Glory.
The Wildhearts
The Wildhearts playing that early in the evening in glorious sunshine was an unusual but most welcome sight. Even more welcome was seeing the iconic line-up back together playing to support their stonking new album Renaissance Men. All bands were given the same billing, but with three bands playing and an early curfew, it meant a curtailed set for each. Not a problem for the Wildhearts who took to the stage like returning heroes, proceeding to play a heads down full-frontal aural assault not wasting a second of their stage time.
The new songs fitted in with the old as if they had always been there. They already felt like old friends. Renaissance Man opener Dislocated opening the set with a vengeance, followed by the epic Everlone. The tone was set. What followed was a selection of Wildhearts classics. Take a step forward incendiary versions of Sick if Drugs, Caffeine Bomb, Suckerpunch, Vanilla Radio… aural bliss. Intersperse these with new tracks, Let ‘Em Go and Diagnosis and you have a portrait of the artists as young, and slightly older men. As I expected from hearing the new album Let ‘Em Go is going to go down as an all-time Wildhearts sing-along classic, the chorus is irresistible, you can’t help but sing along. Diagnosis is a booming mental-health anthem for the disaffected. You are NOT your diagnosis. The tremendous set was over in the blink of an eye finishing with the massive I Wanna Go Where the People Go. I Wanna Go Where the Wildhearts Go…Japan beckons?
Follow that. As a friend I met said, anything else tonight was going to be a bonus.
Terrorvision
Terrorvision made a manful attempt. In fact, all three bands played faultless sets tonight. You cannot help but get drawn into a Terrorvision performance from the sheer energy and enthusiasm demonstrated by frontman Tony Wright. The band have addictive tunes that had crowd bouncing from the off with Alice, What’s the Matter? swiftly followed by the frenetic Discotheque Wreck. It is easy to forget just how many compelling tunes the band have, much like their stage predecessors they crammed as many crowd-pleasing anthems as they could into their allotted time. I must highlight Joe & Josephine as a bona-fide classic. The band went back to the early days too with a peppy My House. Their spirited set also including Middleman and Oblivion before ending on a vigorously animated Perseverance.
Gun
It was down to Gun to close the night, reminding us that their debut, Taking on the World has reached the ripe old age of 30. How did that happen? How did 30 years just disappear? Anyway, latest album Favourite Pleasures is one of their best of recent years providing their lively set opener She Knows. Like Wildhearts and Terrorvision before them they have a healthy back catalogue to pick from with several of tonight’s tracks coming from their debut, the aforementioned title track, Better Days and Inside Out. Their version of Cameos Word Up also going down well with the partisan crowd. The energy of the band increased as the set went on with the final three tracks raising the roof, well, you know what I mean. Blazing through a rabble-rousing Steal Your Fire leading into fan favourite the smouldering Shame on You, you would be forgiven for thinking this was the end as they had been given “the signal” from stage side but no, with a yell of “Kick It” from Dante the band launched into Beastie Boys party anthem Fight for Your Right sending the crowd away with a smile on their face.
And the Award goes to…
Best band of the night? Apologies to my home city boys Gun, and I may be biased as the are probably one of the bands I have seen most live, but it is hard to see past The Wildhearts for me. A tight, hard-rocking, melodic rock punk band with addictive tunes and a drive and passion that is reflected in their live performance. Hard to beat.
A great night at the Bandstand, gigs like this are a fantastic tonic and an opportunity to clear your head and forget about anything other than the music. Another friend summed it up when he said that gigs like this were his therapy, helping him relax and enjoy some time away from anything else going on in his life. I couldn’t agree more. Music matters. We shouldn’t take it for granted. Get out and support bands and venues around you, you’ll thank yourself for it.
A superb gig review……however I have to say much like the last few outings that TV and The Wildhearts have shared the stage Terrorvision have totally owned it, not by much I grant you but they are the team to beat. My opinion only of course!
Terrorvision are an amazing live band. One outstanding memory is them playing at Milton Keynes bowl on a bill headlined by Metallica and Marilyn Manson. They came on all wearing white suits and I wondered how they would go down. They had the entire crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Even the cynical sounding guy in a Deicide T-shirt in front on me was bouncing. Tony has an undeniable presence. I don’t disagree about their performance. As I said. I’m probably biased due to the sheer number of times I’ve seen Wildhearts and my love for the band Seeing their classic line up again and with Danny standing for the whole performance was special.