Archive for November, 2008

Live review: Travis, The Fratellis, Attic Lights, Sergeant @ Carling Academy, Glasgow

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

This was a charity concert for Versus Cancer, a very noble and worthy cause. We have nothing but admiration for the hard work put in by the organisers to make this night happen. However, The Pop Cop’s job is to put sentiment to one side and review the gig so if you don’t agree with our opinions please go easy on the “you’ll burn in hell” comments.

Party balloons float over the heads of the audience, most of whom seem to be decked out in tartan bonnets – which don’t look all that naff until you see the words “The Scottish Sun” emblazoned on them. In fact given the tedious wait between bands as well as the odd hurled pint, you could be forgiven for thinking this was an indoors T in the Park.

Edinburgh act ALFONZO were first on but we literally caught their last strum (sounded great, lads!) before one of several time-filling hosts came on. They included some DJs we’d never heard of, Greg Hemphill and hyper T in the Park presenter Shantha Roberts, who has a strange habit of laughing every five seconds for no reason whatsoever.

It was during these interludes that the crowd were told Echo & The Bunnymen would not be appearing as scheduled because of a cancer-related death in the family of a band member. However, absolutely no mention was made of the fact that Alphabeat had also cancelled because they decided to go on Loose Women instead. Strange that.

Because of the number of bands to get through SERGEANT had only 15 minutes to do their thing, and do it acoustically too. We used to think the Glenrothes group were a rip-off of The View, but it now seems like they want to be Cast judging by Nick Mercer’s desire to sing in a Liverpudlian accent.

ATTIC LIGHTS gave a solid 6/10 kind of performance. They’ve got a healthy repertoire of melodious, jangly tunes to while away a summer’s day, with set-closer Bring You Down being the pick of the bunch, but you can’t help but feel they’ll never be anybody’s favourite band. Perhaps they just need to write their Sparky’s Dream.

THE FRATELLIS get the albatross around their neck (Chelsea Dagger) out the way first which, thanks to the wonders of overexposure, now pales in comparison to Flathead and the tremendous Baby Fratelli.

We’ve finally figured out why The Fratellis are such a surprisingly dull live proposition. There’s no denying they’ve got some cracking party songs but Jon Lawer fails to do them any justice as a frontman. Every time we’ve seen him on stage he has been static and unengaging, which is completely at odds with the tempo of his music. Our advice to Jon would be to find a new member to play his guitar and concentrate all his efforts on being a proper performer.
TRAVIS at least offer the night’s first glimpse of some showmanship, but it doesn’t disguise the fact that Fran Healy is having a rotten time. He continually berates the sound guy to turn up the volume, slings his guitar over his shoulder and slams it onto the ground at the end of Side and complains he’s losing his voice as he struggles to find any positives in what he hears on stage.

The quality of their back catalogue just about gets them out of trouble, with Turn, Writing To Reach You, Love Will Come Through and Closer much-needed reminders of what it is they do so well. But Fran’s constant head-shaking either at himself or the noticeably poor sound that has come to be expected at the Carling Academy makes for a flat spectacle.

No doubt sponsors The Scottish Sun will tell their readers that Travis wowed the crowd.

4 Sergeant - Tonight
b December 19, Caird Hall, Dundee (supporting The Fratellis) (tickets)
b December 21, SECC, Glasgow (supporting The Fratellis) (tickets)
b December 29, Fat Sams, Dundee (tickets)

4 Attic Lights - Bring You Down
b December 31, Waverley Stage, Edinburgh (tickets)
b January 17, ABC, Glasgow (tickets)

4 The Fratellis - Baby Fratelli
b December 19, Caird Hall, Dundee (tickets)
b December 21, SECC, Glasgow (rescheduled from December 20, Print Factory) (tickets)

4 Travis - 20

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Live review: Pete & The Pirates @ King Tut’s, Glasgow

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

This gig was many things. Raucous. Joyful. A little bit rowdy. Most importantly, however, it was a timely reminder that PETE & THE PIRATES have actually made one of 2008′s best albums.

That will probably comes as some surprise to those who dismissed the Reading quintet as just the latest in a tiresomely long line of Someone & The Something bands to emerge this year. But behind the angular sounds of their Little Death record lies a marvellous backbone of winning pop hooks almost as memorable as those found on Franz Ferdinand’s debut.

The world at large may have been slow to cotton on but the kids at King Tut’s certainly aren’t shy to show their appreciation, with roars of delight for She Doesn’t Belong To Me and Come On Feet, not to mention terrace-like chants of “Pirates, we do. Pirates, we love you”.

Nerdy guitarist Pete Hefferan misinterprets the frenzied reception as a sign of personal warmth, and his attempt to show off his recent purchase of stickered tattoos is mocked mercilessly. “Your mum’s going to kill you!” was one of the more printable crowd heckles. “Wanker!” was not.

With his boyish good looks and unflappable demeanour, singer Tommy Sanders easily wins the cool vote, revelling in the energy created by his young devotees. Of course, it helps that his band have a devilishly clever knack of coming up with guitar sounds that can be so readily replicated with hums and da-ra-ras, as the singalongs to Mr Understanding – the highlight of the set – and Knots prove.

4 Pete & The Pirates – Mr Understanding
4 Pete & The Pirates – Ill Love

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To school for cool

Monday, November 24th, 2008

You wait bloody ages for a party and two come along at once, which was why your ever-expanding blogging team from The Pop Cop had no choice but to divide and conquer last night to cover the tastiest tickets in town.

At the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow was the prestigious Tartan Clef Music Awards which, quite frankly, we’re still surprised we got invited to, what with it being a grown-up ceremony attended by the kind of proper celebs that even dads recognise: Peter Kay, Ally McCoist and the man above, Billy Boyd of BEECAKE (more commonly known as Pippin off Lord Of The Rings).

But with it being a who’s who of musicians waaaaaaaaaaay past their heyday – Sharleen Spiteri, Eddi Reader, Orange Juice, The Almighty – it turns out that this wasn’t the most interesting party on Saturday night. Oh no.

That was at your other correspondent’s school reunion, where in attendance was Chris McDonald. Who he? None other than the one-time guitarist of the remarkably durable Dundee indie band MERCURY TILT SWITCH whose finest moment came eight years ago with a beautiful song by the name of Heaven Left Me Where I’m Standing.

And if that’s not enough, there was not one but two X Factor rejects present, including Chris Hannah from The Man Banned, who you can see below reacting heroically to a unanimous snub – although going from one room containing Holly Willoughby to another containing Cheryl Cole kinda softens the blow.

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