So, I was working on my assignment for uni on Tuesday, conscious that time was ticking to get the essay written so I could hand the assignment in on time by Thursday afternoon’s deadline. I kept on lapsing in and out of the work, just to help to ultimately keep engaged with it and get it done. At one point I saw an email coming in with the subject line of: “Congratulations! You’ve won our competition for Franz Ferdinand”… whaaaaa?! Woohoo! That gave me the extra incentive I needed. The gig was for Thursday night, so I *had* to have my assignment handed in on Thursday afternoon NOW or I would never be able to unwind and enjoy the gig.
Myself and my gig buddy, Birdy, arrived by taxi to the Hydro around 6.45pm. Tickets would be available for collection from 6pm. I thought it would be best for us to get there moderately early to see the two support acts. I wasn’t sure where to go on arrival so said to a member of the door security staff that I was on a guestlist. Tickets needed to be collected at the box office inside the SEC. We popped on over, collected the tickets then made our way into the Hydro. It’s weird to walk in through those front doors at ground floor level. I had told Birdy when we got in that it was my first ever gig experience at the Hydro in the GA (General Admission) standing area – which it was – for a full concert, as I had forgotten my other brief experience of being in the GA area at the soundcheck for Simple Minds back in April. But that was just for a soundcheck and the concert proper I had a seat in one of the first level areas just behind the GA floor. So, first full gig proper on the floor with my fifth gig at the Hydro. My fourth this year!
I didn’t know anything about the two support acts. I do like to experience these things blind, not tainted by anything I’ve heard about them or with any knowledge of what I might expect, or not expect.
The first of the support acts are called Medicine Cabinet and they hail from Glasgow. A female fronted group. The singer’s vocals are in a fairly high octave and with her stage presence I was getting a mix of an early Clare Grogan/Altered Images vibe. As their set progressed that initial vibe changed into a Blondie/Debbie Harry vibe, with a dash of Bjork thrown in for good measure. Songs were great. Fabulous musicians that could really play. All of them looked great. The songs had post punk/new wave/art rock feels to them but with some 90s indie undertones as well. They just got better and better through the set. Started really strong and just kept that momentum going and building upon it. I don’t say this lightly when I say that they are, by far, the BEST support act I have seen at ANY gig…EVER. I could well imagine had I’d been able to go back in time and with Medicine Cabinet as a yardstick it would have been akin in time of chronology and how long they’d been active – had I found myself in, say 1979 or 1980 and I was seeing my first ever Simple Minds set, not knowing who they were from Adam – I’d have been as equally knocked out. That’s how it feels it would be akin to. They were just fucking fabulous! If you get the chance, GO SEE THEM! I will definitely be seeing them again in future.
The second of the support acts was Los Bitchos. An all female group and predominantly instrumental based – which had me instantly liking them. I guess I’m a weird beast like that. I LOOOOOOOOOVE lyrics. You know how much I wax lyrical (pun, pun!) about Jim and his songwriting but then my second favourite band in the whole world is Warm Digits and they are predominantly instrumental based (although have weaved more lyrics into their songwriting in recent years). I do love that motorik/’Krautrock’ genre of music. Los Bitchos, as the name would imply, have a more Latino based feel running through their music. Based on cumbia music (yes, I had to look that up myself). They even performed a Christmas song last night called “Los Chrismos”. What limited lyrics are in their songs are summed up with the example of Los Chrismos which comprises entirely of the lines “Christmas time/sexy times”, sung in choral unison sporadically through their festive cumbia cheer. I think someone like Jonathan Richman would absolutely LOOOOOVE them! I really enjoyed them. I felt sorry for them a tad really. After Medicine Cabinet had done their set I said to Birdy “I tell ya what, Los Bitchos are gonna have to be fucking GOOD to beat that!” And although they weren’t really right there, they were still bloody great.
When they had finished their set and left the stage, the roadies moved in to get things set up for FF. A few minutes into the setup, a white muslin curtain was dropped over the front of the stage. This was rather intriguing as it was too sheer to be truly obscuring what the road crew and techs were doing setting up the FF stage. It had me and Birdy intrigued as to why the curtain was put in place. Nine o’clock came and went and I was thinking I did good to have hired the taxi to come and collect us at 11.15pm as I had theorised that we’d have a later night than we did for Roxy. But, hopefully a quieter night too as there were trains running so it shouldn’t look like the traffic carnage it can do some nights on the streets of Glasgow.
It was closer to 9.15pm by the time Franz Ferdinand made their appearance on stage. The muslin curtain was still in place as the lights came on and all made sense then as they were there on the curtain in silhouette hyping up the crowd with some musical noodlings before the curtain dropped and they launched straight into The Dark Of The Matinee.
I haven’t looked up a setlist. I can’t remember the full running order of tracks and I may discuss them in the wrong order but they diligently covered the past 20 years of their story with an incredible set. As I take a quick meander to familiarise myself with a couple of the songs I was ensure on the title of (songs familiar to me still from listening to them endlessly in the naughties – but now hazy on the title), apart from a couple left out, they seemed to have performed the whole of the “Hits To The Head” best of compilation album last night, plus a couple I wasn’t expecting, like Jacqueline. The setlist was in an order I wasn’t expecting. To open with Matinee was a surprise and then to have things like No You Girls, Darts Of Pleasure and Take Me Out mid set was also really surprising.
The set was non-stop for an hour. Hardly a pause for breath for Alex and hardly a chance for the crowd to stop bouncing up and down and having a whale of a time. From memory, the first block of the set concluded with a wonderful performance of Outsiders. Then the band exits the stage momentarily and stage crew come on with snare drums, bongos and other percussive instruments. Franz’s new drummer, Audrey, comes back out on the stage and starts a beat, then – I nearly screamed the place down, I see Paul Thomson (their original drummer until he decided to call it a day last year) come on the stage and start playing the bongos. The rest of the band come back on, playing other various bits of percussion. From the other side of the stage members of Los Bitchos and Medicine Cabinet also arrive and the crowd are treated to a mass drumming and percussion jam that lasts a few minutes and was bloody fantastic. All the musicians leave the stage again. The stage crew come back and clear away the extra percussive instrumentation and after a couple of minutes, FF return to the stage. Alex says “I am obliged to ask this question of you all so…would it be okay with you all if we did another song?” Of course we all screamed and shouted “YES!!!!”, with a plethora of whoops, hollers and whistles thrown in. It wasn’t just one song – it was several. It was more than an encore. A sublime encore that started with Do You Want To and ended with a blistering This Fire. They also played Michael, which I was stoked about.
Alex Kapranos is an incredibly engaging frontman. No sign of slowing down. At 50, he’s as agile and energetic as he was 20 years ago. His energy exuded on stage last night culminated in him taking a running dive into the crowd from the centre runway strip of the stage at the end of the gig. A few minutes later he reappeared, seemingly unscathed. Two young women were then pulled from the crowd to join the band on stage as they bade the ecstatic home crowd a goodnight.
A standout and absolute kudos has to be given to Audrey Tait who has filled Paul Thomson’s shoes within the band with absolute aplomb. It is sssoooo wonderful and refreshing to see just how many amazing female drummers there are out there and they are FINALLY being given the credit they deserve because they have ALWAYS been just as good as the blokes (if not better). You only have to look at the likes of Karen Carpenter, Honey Lantree, Mo Tucker and Sheila E (as a few examples) to see that. Back then, women of that ilk seemed to be the exception to the rule in terms of female drummers and percussionists being visible. It’s so great that it feels like it’s all changing with female drummers and percussionists being more visible than ever.
In 2022, I haven’t been to a dud gig. The calibre of acts and artistry has been phenomenal. There are still a couple of gigs to come for me. One in just over a week’s time that sees me go to London to see Sarah Brown’s solo debut at Ronnie Scott’s, then finally to see Paolo Nutini at the Hydro just prior to Chrstmas. I’m starting to think my ‘gig of the year’ is going to be a tougher call than I initially anticipated.
Sounds really good. Will check out the support bands. Thanks 🙂