Short but still astonishing.

I must admit to being in a bit of a dilemma. You see I had got myself all geared up to writing a long detailed review of this gig. In the end the band were onstage for barely 45 minutes, using this series of shows as a kind of showcase and warm up for their summer festival shows and thus are honing the set to fit around their allotted and anticipated time slots. And to be fair tickets were a bargain basement £8. Singer James explained that the songs are designed to flow into each other, creating an almost continuous wall of sonic delights. So did this bold claim bear fruit and did the band rise up to justify recent hype? We will see, but first off a wee bit about the band.

Glasvegas have been around for almost 2 years now and up until now have got by with a series of fan building low key live shows and a couple of independently released singles. Both of these made NME’s track of the week and their star continued to rise when they won the Radar award at said magazine’s yearly awards bash in February. Behind the scenes things were just as exciting with a huge bidding war for their signatures erupting between the major record companies (won by Colombia). Now the debut album has been recorded in New York with Rich Costey. who has an impressive list of rock and indie bands on his production list, Interpol, Nine Inch Nails and and Muse to name just three. They have also been championed, but strangely not managed by talent spotter supreme Alan Mc Gee. I must admit to being a relatively late convert, hearing them on Jools Holland a couple of months ago when tuning in to watch Nick Cave. That night they stole the show, the results can be seen on a well known video hosting website. Like most other converts, I guess what I liked about them was that they were a little different to most bands around at the moment. No make that all bands. Dressing all in black, their sound is a mix of shoe gazing indie beloved of My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain (both from their native Glasgow) with a slice of Echo and the Bunnymen, mixed with 50’s rock and roll complete with a ‘doo wop’ or two. However this is not the only string to their bows. Their Myspace page refers to them as experimental, and this comes out in their music too. Singing in a local dialect makes them sound a bit like the Proclaimers, and one tune is poppy in the same vein as fellow Scots The View (’Whitey’ not played tonight). In fact they are a bit like a rock and roll version of a cricket test match bowler, the intense shoegaze stuff being their stock delivery, but every so often they put in a bouncer in the form of a pop song or ballad. However I can sum it up quite simply – there are no current bands who sound anything like Glasvegas.

Tonight they start off with some slow burning stock shoegaze stuff, but bloody hell its intense and straight away you can sense the power of the band. The Leeds crowd is quiet for the most part but I suddenly realise that is because they are all getting into the music in a big way, most of them like me seeing the band for the first time. Opener ‘Flowers and Football Tops’ gives way to a slow cover of ‘You are my Sunshine’ which moves seamlessly into their third song, and I begin to see what they mean by continuous sound. Throughout the gig they play illuminated by only red stage lights with a lot of dry ice and the occasional strobe, which all goes to increase the intensity. Previous single ‘Its my cheating heart that makes me cry’ follows with its born in the 50’s signature reminding me of something akin to the Ronettes. Then we get the new single ‘Geraldine’, not a love song as the lyrics suggest but a rallying call for the role of social workers in our society. If you haven’t heard this yet, then you will soon as it is surely heading for the upper reaches of the top ten. Moving outside of their normal territory it has a huge stadium sound in places yet still retains a retro feel. It is a stunning song and is really brought to life by the drumming of Caroline who in true Mary Chain style stands up throughout. Very early single ‘Go square Go!’, which is apparently about fighting after the pubs close in Glasgow – a rare event i’m sure – follows. This is way different to what the band normally do – poppy, quirky and almost a terrace tune with its refrain of ‘Here we fuckin’ go’.

Then the stage goes quiet and it looks like the band have left the stage but singer James Allen remains and after a few word to the crowd when he confirms their attendance at Leeds Festival 2008, he sings alone accompanied only by an organ sound through the synth. New song ‘Ice cream Van’ is about how there are no ice cream sellers coming round the Glasgow estates anymore due to the drug and sectarian problems, and is possibly sung from the perspective of a small child. In front of me a young studenty couple who have been gassing to each other, taking advantage of this quiet bit, stop in their tracks and gaze intently at the singer. It takes a good song to shut students up and this achieves it. It’s sad, passionate and is the highlight of the gig. They keep the roll going with ‘Daddy’s Gone’ probably their best song and a sure fire re release to follow up ‘Geraldine’. Indeed on a rough listen I would say there are at least five truly great songs kicking around in this set and a very promising taster for the debut album. Then after a mass sing along to the song’s end – not bad for a band without a proper release – they are gone, no encore no fuss just a leave them wanting more attitude. I wonder if they also realised that this was the last time they will ever play in a venue of this size as momentum begins to roll them ever forward.

So it was a short gig but was by far the best one I have seen this year from a music point of view. I have never seen a band before debut album with this many great tunes, and I include the Arctic Monkeys in this. Yes there is a lot of hype but in my view it is fully justified if they can play shows like this, and it looks like the debut album will be a classic. To these ears they are one of those bands who come along very very infrequently. Whatever you do this summer make sure you see this band at a festival near you – if you can get into the tent that is. Oh and by the way, the student couple in front of me never said another word throughout the gig except for one uttered at the end of the song – ‘Amazing’.

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