Hamish was one of the highlights of that glorious weekend last August seeing the two Simple Minds gigs at Princes Street Gardens. Michelle and I enjoyed his set so much that night that we made it our mission to see him live in his own right at the earliest opportunity. In the interim, I listened to his (then) current album, Heavy Elevator several times and this only compounded my desire to go and see him live.
That opportunity to grab a ticket for a gig availed itself about six weeks later when HH announced the release of a new album, Angel Numbers, and would be touring on the back of the album’s release in February. I snapped up a ticket as soon as they went on sale – there’s the quick and the dead, as they say.
St Luke’s and The Winged Ox is fast becoming my favourite venue in Glasgow. Easily accessible from the north of the city, although the east end lacks the better transport linkage that the subway offers with St Enoch being the station farthest east on the line (and that’s not east at all, really). Personally speaking, the proximity from my house and the road links from there to the top end of Gallowgate means a taxi is affordable and easy to book and get home at the end of the night.
On top of that, the venue always has a great atmosphere, with enthusiastic crowds and great views of the stage no matter where you are within the auditorium. The acoustics are great and the pub annexed to the right side of the church (The Winged Ox) is pretty fab too.
I chickened out going in by train and walking from Queen Street Station to the venue as the weather was turning poop during the day and I decided I wanted to wear my leather jacket and that’s not exactly rainproof. My taxi got me there at around 6.50pm. I was meeting Michelle at 7pm for the doors opening. Mercifully the rain that was coming down during the taxi journey abated some on route as I decided to join the short queue that was waiting for the doors of St Luke’s to open. A light drizzle was still falling as I joined the queue but that petered out by the time the venue security opened the doors to let us early birds in.
It’s not a wide stage but I managed to get myself at the tail end of the front row barrier to the left side looking at the stage. The stage is quite low, so even at that side angle, I had a very clear view. Michelle was running late and nature was calling me but I didn’t want to lose my spot right at the end of the barrier. I knew without Michelle turning up to hold my spot for me that if I moved away from the barrier, I’d lose my place. Almost as soon as she arrived I was off to spend a penny. I made it back just a minute or two before Lizzie Reid walked out onto the stage to perform her set.
Unlike when I saw her supporting Paolo Nutini in December, when she had a full, electric band behind her, she was solo and acoustic last night. Her songs made a stronger impression on me last night too. Although I enjoyed her set at the Nutini gig, there was something about the contrasting elements of big arena and large stage with a seat that had me quite away from the action, compared to a more intimate venue, a smaller stage and being just a few feet away from her as she strummed on her acoustic guitar. I decided not to film any of her set because I recorded some of her set at the Nutini gig – that was remiss of me in hindsight.
Lizzie’s set over, there was a chance to have a natter with Michelle over the throng of other voices and roadies setting up the stage for Hamish and band. The time passed really quickly. There was meant to be 30 minutes between sets but it didn’t feel as if there was a half-hour wait but perhaps the enthusiastic blethering made the time pass quicker?
As the band arrived there was audible joy and a rumble of applause which increased when Hamish himself appeared. They started with my favourite track from the new album, Dog-eared August. Right from that point, I knew it was going to be one incredible gig. Even from following him on social media, you could sense the propulsion of the touring audiences. Angel Numbers has been getting great reviews and that has led to an increase in interest and popularity in these last few weeks.
I don’t have the setlist to hand and I didn’t take any notes at the gig as I was enjoying it far too much to take note of which song was performed when. Quite a number of tracks from the new album were performed – certainly nearly every track, if not the whole album. The songs I know for sure that were performed from the album were; Once Upon an Acid Glance, Desperately, Grey Seals, Rest & Veneers (in which Lizzie Reid re-entered the stage to accompany Hamish on duet vocal duties), Money, as well as a crowd-pleasing version of Angel Numbers. Below is a gorgeous rendition of the sublime Bridget St. John.
Around two thirds of the way into the set, the rest of the band went off for a break and Hamish was left on his own with an acoustic guitar. He performed a song called Catherine Opens a Window and it was absolutely beautiful. I had to find it to know the title of it. It’s from his first album called ‘From Zero to One’, released as Hamish Hawk & the New Outfit. You could have heard a pin drop as he performed it. The audiences at St Luke’s are really courteous and receptive to the performers, it is why I am beginning to love this venue so much.
He continued on with the set, performing several other numbers, mostly from previous album, Heavy Elevator; ‘This, Whatever It Is, Needs Improvements’, Daggers, Calls To Tiree and renditions of ‘Bakerloo, Unbecoming’ and ‘The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973’. The crowd went absolutely MENTAL over these two songs and they are magic. Lyrically stellar – both of them. I mean, just the title of the latter alone is worthy of a prize – and it is part of the lyrics of the song as well and is weaved into it so masterfully. There is also the lines of “And I call out, isn’t this living?”, followed by “And you call back – Jim dear – it’s living (the dream)” “The dream” – said on the second singing of the line. The beginning of the song as well starts with the fabulous opener “To write a cathedral I’ll need a ballpoint pen.”
As we come towards the end of the gig, Hamish takes heart in the absolute wave of joy and euphoria coming from the crowd. Two songs left and I knew what was coming and kept on filming. I had seen the footage from the opening night of the tour at Newcastle’s fabulous Cluny and I shared it here on the blog – so here is last night’s version of Thank You For Sending Me An Angel.
The gig ended with an incredible version of Caterpillar. Rarely have I seen such an amazing send-off as these men achieved last night.
Michelle and I joined the queue for the merch stall. I was hoping Hamish would appear and perhaps come over to the merch stall but when he did appear, people went over to him to chat to him. He slowly moved forward, meandering his way towards to merch stall inch by inch. By the time I had been served and Michelle had gone to the cloakroom to collect her coat, he was just behind me. I congratulated him on a fantastic gig and told him how much I love his version of Thank You For Sending Me An Angel. “Channelling David Byrne,” I said to him. He was humbled by the plaudit. “I couldn’t possibly place myself in that vein, but thank you so much.” Then I felt a right dick for realising I am praising him for a cover song and hurriedly said “Everything was great too.” Ground, swallow me up! Lol. I told him how I had seen him supporting SM at Princes Street Gardens and was then keen to see him again. He said he was really nervous on the day of that gig, to be performing with such a calibre of a band. I then said I hoped to come and see him for his store appearance at Blitzkrieg in just under a couple of weeks and he said it would be great to see me there. Such a lovely thing to say!
Reunited with Michelle, we said our goodbyes, arranging to meet up again for Hamish’s store appearance at Blitzkrieg. I ordered a taxi to come and collect me and waited outside. I got chatting to a guy having a cigarette. We talked about small gig venues and weather (it was still drizzling away and the wind was picking up). After a few minutes my taxi arrived. I was home and in the door by 10.30pm having seen one of the best gigs I am ever likely to see.
