Hit rewind. Address refunds (virtually none). Reschedule tour date. Get everyone back for a second shot. This is what Vukovi had to do after a localised power outage in March caused their headline show at Glasgow’s SWG3 to be cancelled partway through main support Unpeople’s set. The audience had enjoyed Artio also, but weren’t to get to see the main act due to a lack of that blue juice that flows through wires.
Credit to Vukovi (and their fans), the rescheduled date was only a few weeks later and back at the same venue. Further credit for coming up with some exclusive merch for the date, referencing the power cut, which sold out on the night. The support acts, however, were different due to schedules and so forth. This effectively means that those who went to the original date got a whacking five bands for their money. Bargain.
Tonight’s new openers were local lads Fog Bandits who were actually in the audience for the original date. After a callout by Vukovi for acts to take the opening slot tonight, Fog Bandits won the vote and got to get on the other side of the barricade without having to argue with the security staff. Their Facebook had about 60 likes on it when I checked, but I’m fully aware that I’m an old fart and most of their fanbase are probably on TikTok or SnapChat.
They’re described as “dirty rock”, though they’re definitely punky… and they were bloody great. Honestly, they took to that stage as if they’ve been playing gigs this big for years. Swagger, confidence, musical ability, but no arrogance. Great tunes belted out by four lads who absolutely deserve your attention. Their half hour slot went by quickly, with seven songs and some good banter with the crowd.
Recent single “Vile” popped up towards the end, and they finished with a never-played-live-before “Get A Match”. It takes some balls to debut a song on your biggest show to date! Well done, lads. We hope to hear more from you in the future!
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Filling up the second spot were a band we saw opening a show at the same venue barely a month ago. Lake Malice surprisingly didn’t mention their support slot with RØRY, with them now elevated to main support. They still had half an hour, and the set was similar to last time. That is, it was full on and absolutely bouncing with energy.
By this point the hall was getting quite full and I saw a handful of Lake Malice shirts. The madcap, screaming Alice wasted little time in encouraging those existing fans (and soon-to-be new ones) to get themselves moving, and such they did. Honestly, you can’t help yourself. If you need a warm-up band who actually warm the crowd up, I honestly haven’t seen a better one in recent months.
Ensuring they weren’t doing the “practice what you preach” thing, guitarist Blake played a good portion of one song slap bang in the middle of the circle pit. And without a barricade of security staff, such as the one surrounding Bloodywood’s dhol player Sarthak at this very venue a couple of weeks ago!
As with the previous show I was almost exhausted simply watching them. A great live act and one you should keep an eye out for. They also played Takedown Festival recently, and (spoiler for our upcoming review) Steve was impressed with them there also.
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And then. Finally. After the longest set change of all time (five weeks?), we got to see Vukovi. And oh my, was it worth the wait. While others here at Moshville Towers have seen them live before this was my first experience, and honestly I was blown away. Similar in makeup to Lake Malice (singer and guitarist as the core members, drummer as a live addition), they had every bit of their support’s energy and then some. Possibly down to Janine necking a bottle of Buckfast during the gig!
Janine’s relationship with the crowd was wonderfully tongue-in-cheek extreme Scottish. By the time they were into the second song, she’d declared the pit “SHITE!” and insisted it get bigger. None of the “You can do better” or instructions to get going for her. No, instead she went with the time-honoured Scots tradition between mates of telling them that they’re not up to scratch in a bid to get them to up their game. And it worked.
I also have to make a confession. Much like RØRY, when Janine started singing I thought “nah… that’s too good. Please tell me that’s not a recording”. But as they show went on, as with the one last month, it became apparent that she was, indeed, that good. Janine’s voice is absolutely incredible. Anyone who can sing as well as that while bouncing round like an excited puppy on crack is going to impress.
The audience didn’t stop moving for the whole set, through numbers like “MISTY ECSTACY”, “MERCY KILL” and “BLADED”. “FALLEN BEYOND” received a live debut and went down as well as every other song from current release MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN. The show was very much a lengthy, sweaty party.
I almost felt sorry for guitarist Hamish as Janine is very much the focus of the live show, but he prowled the stage and engaged as well as able while playing while his co-member bounced and twirled and swore a lot. Credit also to the aforementioned drummer Martin Sharples-Johnston who was an absolute powerhouse.
The band were joined by Alice from Lake Malice for “MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN”, and the guest vocalist decided that her own band colleague wasn’t to steal the limelight from their set and went for a protracted crowd surf. Credit to the audience for getting her most of the way to the soundboard and back! But, hey, competition is competition right? When you’re the headliner you can’t let the upstart support one-up you… so shortly afterwards it was Janine who took the trip at head height (“Don’t fucking drop me!).
Counting down the songs left to the end, and promising a lack of encore, certainly kept the crowd on their toes. When you know there’s no more left to come, you go all out and that what the audience did for “I EXIST”, “Run/Hide” and “La Di Da” before the gig finished. As promised, no encore… but aren’t they a waste of time anyway? Spend the off-stage time playing another track!
This was a hell of a night. A fledgling opener, a second bite of the Lake Malice cherry and Vukovi… Simply wow.
Photos by Non Serviam
