First gig of the year could not have been more epic and compelling.
Due on stage at 8.30pm but fashionably late – the lights in the Hydro switched off about 8.45. The crowd went nuts… but they made us wait just a bit longer.
Incredible from the get go. You’d have thought someone just put the CD on over the speaker system… but no. Apart from some parts (loops, etc) that I assume are a backing track… it was all live. Two drummers! Love it!
Horace Andy performed tracks. And for a 67 year old man, he’s sounding great and still got the moves.
Several songs in, and out comes the Indie/New Wave Queen of Grangemouth… ladies and gentlemen, Ms Elizabeth Frazer. Of course she got a huge, rapturous welcome.
She performed Black Milk and the crowd went nuts after.
I’m not overly familiar with Mezzanine as an album… but they were performing tracks in a mixed up order.
A small pause after about 75 minutes on stage, and back they come with Horace Andy to perform a stonking version of Angel. And then the roof gets blown off the Hydro as Liz comes back out on stage and the opening chords to Teardrop start.
I’ve never heard a reaction like it after the song was done. I’m surprised it wasn’t a standing ovation, frankly.
A stunning gig. Great visuals. Some not easy to take. Text on screen. Thought-provoking messages. Almost like being at a live Adam Curtis screening.
I loved every second of it. And I definitely want to see them again.
I was a bit of the way up, so I don’t have the best pics, but here are a couple. I grabbed video footage of Angel but will have to share that when I’m back home, I think.
What an opener to the year!
It gives you what it knows you want.