Ah, winter in Glasgow. The cold, the wind, the rain that soaks through to your bones. All very atmospheric given tonights headliners, but thankfully there was no queue to get in when I arrived at the Hydro, possibly due to the fairly early doors time. This was due to a generous three support acts and, as ever, our aim is to catch ’em all like musical Pokémon.
First up were TX2, an unknown-to-me act. And bloody hell were they good. Straight out of the trap there was no denying that they were one of these bands that puts everything into their show, and moreso when they have a crowd to win over. They rattled through half a dozen songs in their 35 minute set, and barely stopped to draw breath.
Frontman Timothy Thomas (the eponymous TX2) was vocal about acceptance without being preachy, adamant thet he would warm the audience up, and very active on stage – and off it. I don’t think I’ve seen a band lob it over the barrier at the Hydro before, and start a (small) pit up while playing within the audience before… and this was only their second song.
In case the baying hordes weren’t entertained enough, Miles and Joe from Ice Nine Kills were ushered onto the stage for a song as well. You couldn’t ask for a better opening act. Thomas said that they’d “played to empty gigs before”. Hopefully this will be a thing of the past based on the strength of this set.
About the only thing TX2 didn’t get was crowd surfers, a problem solved by The Devil Wears Prada. I last saw this bunch back in February at Slay, a much smaller venue. Since then they’ve released a new album, Flowers, which regretably we didn’t cover which is a shame as it’s pretty damn good. The more melodic take works better for me than a lot of their older material, with recent single “So Low” being a great example… but not one of the songs they played on the night!
I do like their dual vocals with Jeremy also hopping on and off guitar duties, and the keys really add something to their sound. Perhaps due to the acoustics in the Hydro it’s the key-heavy, lighter material which comes across best tonight with “Chemical” being probably the best example.
I expect we’ll see a more Flowers-heavy set and a full tour sometime soon.
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Tonight was to be my third time seeing Creeper this year after I lamented missing them ages ago when they opened for Alice Cooper. I did promise back then that I’d make it up to them and I think this counts! I’m already looking forward to their “intimate” tour in April. Tonight’s set was split 50/50 between the two Sanguivore albums and showcased them brilliantly to what could be an ideal new audience.
Given the up-tempo music from the other acts, Creeper’s vamp/gothic tempo was a bit lower making them arguably the “odd ones out” on the bill, while thematically perhaps fitting in better with the headliners. Regardless, they owned that stage for half an hour or so especially with the incredible “Headstones” which is one of the catchiest songs out there right now.
Frontman Will always tickles me with his low-pitched vocals when his between-songs talking voice is more like Justin Hawkins, and I love that Hannah gets to come front and centre so often rather than being stuffed at the back like keyboardists usually are. Honestly, if she had a side project that she fronted herself I’d not be surprised.
By the end of the set, Creeper had a pit, they had bouncing, they had crowd surfers and they had a huge section to my left screaming the lyrics to “Cry To Heaven”. Roll on April!
Headliner time. Credit to the stage crew who kept the downtime between sets to a minimum so Ice Nine Kills blasted onto stage not that long after Creeper left. This is my third time seeing INK and each time they’ve jumped a venue size. From the Garage to the Academy and now the Hydro, the only thing that doesn’t seem to have changed is the merch prices which I recall being somewhat eye-watering even at that first show!
A couple of quick negatives, just to get them out of the way. INK still use far too much stage smoke to the point where you can’t see a damn thing on the stage, especially when coupled with strong direct lighting. This wasn’t as bad as it was at the (smaller) Academy last time, but still an issue now and again. It’s a shame as they have such an awesome stage show, but you can’t see bits of it because of the big white wall. In addition, we had the usual audio issues (and again I appreciate that this will vary based on where you are in the venue). If you’re going to bring along two guest musicians who appear on almost all your songs – more on this later – then it would be nice to be able to actually hear them.
OK, on with the horror show.
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As anyone who was there will tell you, this was a huge performance. From the Blue Peter-esque props of that Garage performance to materials far more suited to these arena stages, we were being blasted with flames from the off. While the two Horrorwood albums were the mainstay of the set, we also heard the three recent standalone singles and a couple of covers. All this wrapped in pantomime horror trappings.
Opening with the appropriately named “Meat & Greet”, victims were being ripped apart from the go. “Hip to be Scared” was the first biggie for me, and it’s only a shame that Papa Roach’s Jacoby couldn’t have been there to play his role in the stage show.
It was with the first cover that I realised why I recognised a couple of the backing band members. Ice Nine Kills recently released a rather good version of “Walking on Sunshine” alongside Reel Big Fish… and they brought Matt and John (if I have the names right) along to play their parts. During this song the trumpet and Sax were nice and clear, which is why it was such a shame that they seemed to vanish completely for pretty much every other number where the guys were on stage, with the exception of a surprise Might Mighty Bosstones cover, “The Impression That I Get”.
The schlock horror continued through the likes of “Farewell II Flesh”, “The Shower Scene” and “Rainy Day” though the definite highlight for myself was one of their less horrific numbers. I’d seen a bit of discussion online about “The Laugh Track” with some knocking it due to it being one of the band’s more melodic / less heavy numbers, but I think it’s hands down one of the best songs they’ve ever written. So many little references and homages, as well as having a kick ass chorus. The stage performance for this one song was awesome, almost a mini version of the parade from Burton’s Batman, and the audience were very much on my side going by the way they were singing along.
Alongside “Welcome to Horrorwood” and “The American Nightmare” coming at the tail end of the set, I was definitely going to go home happy. But there was one extra little twist during closer “A Work of Art”. Remember how I mentioned how good Hannah from Creeper was? Well they brought her back on to do guest vocals for A Work of Art while Art the clown appeared in a kilt and “played” bagpipes.
Bedlam.
This was a theatre performance from start to end with only those minor niggles mentioned at the start of the review. A blinding performance, a superb selection of songs, and that stage show… just wow. If you missed this one you deserve to end up in one of John Kramer’s little toys.
All photos by Salma Bustos
