You can tell it’s going to be a good show when you arrive at a venue and the queue stretches about 200m down the street. SWG, for those who don’t know, is right at the end of a long avenue with an old railway line to one side. In fact it used to be, if I remember my facts correctly, an engineering workshop for train repairs or some such. It makes for a superb venue with multiple spaces, and it was the huge Galvanizers that was to be packed to the rafters with a sell-out crowd tonight.
Yet again I was attending a show featuring bands I didn’t know. Courtesy of a keen gig buddy, I’m thoroughly enjoying discovering new bands and I’ve found that going to see them live is by far the best way to do this. Songs I might otherwise listen to once and think “yeah, I guess it’s OK” really hit in a different way when performed on stage. There’s a huge amount of truth behind the “Keep Music Live” campaign, and I for one am 100% behind it.
Courtesy of being Guest List Wankers (sorry, everyone) we got to skip the queue and made it in shortly after openers TSS has started their set. I’m really glad we did as we’d otherwise likely have missed them and they were, quite simply, superb. Like many of the bands I’ve been catching recently they blend multiple styles to great effect: goth, metalcore, emo and more go into their French melting pot (creuset?) and come out sounding great.
As with so many of my recent reviews, please excuse the lack of song titles due to not knowing the band but I’m sure I’ll pick some up as I’m definitely going to be listening to TSS going forward. The twin vocals worked really well, with both clean and harsh vocals pairing perfectly. The overall sound and look of the band suited the show (and the audience – folks, you looked amazing!), and even at this early hour the audience was packed to the front and obviously very much into the show. Hands waved, people were jumping… Honestly if you couldn’t see people still entering the venue you’d think they were much higher up the bill.
With a similar short set, Call Me Amour were the only band on the line-up I’d heard of before – mainly as their PR does a good job of nagging me about them all the time! Credit to Dave, based on tonight’s performance, they deserve to be listened to. So much so that our photographer this evening, Angela, has already submitted a request to cover their headline show in November, labelling them as “Outstanding” in a message she sent me between sets!
Different from TSS in terms of eclectic style, but similar in terms of attitude and outlook, Call Me Amour threw four or five songs our way during their set. Just enough to give you a flavour, and very much enough to leave myself, and the rest of the audience, wanting more. They played like headliners, getting a pit started and having the audience bouncing to each shouted command. To be fair, this wasn’t a challenge as the 1250-strong metal brigade was very much up for it.
I did catch a couple of song names this time around, “Bloom” and “Girl on the Wall” amongst them, but I’ll be hunting out more. Their self-titled EP dropped a couple of weeks ago, and it’s probably no surprise that “Bloom” from it went down so well as the original features local lad Scott Kennedy (Bleed From Within) on guest vocals.
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The main support, and with a lengthier set to honour this, were Point North from the US. If I recall correctly they said this was the first time they’ve toured outside their home country, and I very much hope they enjoyed it enough to do it again! I do know they’re back for the Slam Dunk festivals later this year.
Wikipedia bills them as “pop punk” but this doesn’t ring true for me, though they certainly have the catchiness in their tunes that says they may have started off in this genre. They’re way heavier than that now, and unusually don’t have a bassist instead running with drums, vocals and guitar.
Like both bands before, and I find myself using this phrase a lot, they played like they were at the top of the bill. Point North simply grabbed the crowd and didn’t let them go for the thirty minutes or so we had the pleasure of their company. Through songs like “Into The Dark”, “Below the Belt” and set-ender “Safe And Sound” (if I have my notes right) they absolutely pulverised the whole hall, and left the stage to a huge cheer.
The audience, though, was definitely waiting for the actual headliners Set It Off. The lights dimmed, the opening refrain from “The Final Countdown” was blasted out (and sung along to), then a recorded set piece and clever use of lights announced the band onto stage. If the drums hadn’t already battered my ears, the cheers from the audience would have deafened me.
Set It Off are, as far as I can find, a three-piece though they had an extra member on stage with them tonight. This still left them short a bassist, though, as there were twin guitars to go with the vocalist and drummer but hey. They sounded great regardless. Great rhythms, kickass drops, huge energy and an audience that were wound up and waiting to go meant that there was no way this gig was going to be anything other than explosive.
Again, I’m unfamiliar with the band (or wasn’t, but definitely will be going on) but I picked up on a few of the songs. “Fake Ass Friends” and “Killing People” were great numbers, and having the singer and drummer swap roles for “Hypnotized” was a superb moment. The audience were very much the additional band member when it came to singing the lyrics, joining in and taking over at several points. I can only imagine what it must be like being on stage to have that response to words and music that you put together.
Certainly Set It Off were appreciative and Cody Carson gushed at length about how grateful the band were to be where they are now. After ditching record labels and going independent they’ve done nothing but move upwards, going from playing to nobody to filling up a 1250-cap venue like tonight. On the strength of their show tonight they 100% deserved it. Their sound isn’t stuck in any hole, with hints of funk and jazz mixed up with the edgy pop-rock. The lyrics are meaningful, probably more so to the majority of the audience who were significantly younger than me, but many of them still rang true.
They wrapped up with “Why Worry” and “Punching Bag” as an encore and spent the duration of “You’re Welcome” being played over the sound system continuing to engage with their fans.
A common theme between all of the sets, from the bands’ engagement with their audience, was one of love, self-care, self-belief and inclusion. We obviously couldn’t be more behind messages like these, and it’s always good to see entertainers using their public platform to reinforce these positive outlooks.
The only issue with going to all these gigs with bands I’ve not listened to before is that I’m now finding too many new bands that I want to listen to and I don’t have the time… Every band tonight was absolutely on point, each played a blinder of a set (whether 25 minutes or 75), and every one deserved the applause and cheers they got. Honestly, I can’t find fault with anything this evening from the sound in the venue to the wonderful, wonderful Glasgow crowd. I hope to see more of you around at other gigs coming up!
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Pics by Skull Lens Photography
