It was a lovely crisp, clear evening in Glasgow last night. It’s amazing to think that less than a week prior, the city was feeling the full force of Storm Eowyn – the contrast couldn’t have been more stark!
In recent times making my way to this part of the city (Clydeside – by Pacific Quay/Science Centre) I would have journeyed to Queen St and then taken the subway to Cessnock. But a few days ago I had a revelation – that it would actually be easier to take the train to Exhibition and cross the Clyde over Bell’s Bridge and get to the BBC Scotland building that way. As long as there were no gigs going on at the Hydro or the Armadillo, we’d be sweet. I checked their websites – nothing on. Grand!
We took the train to Anniesland just after 6pm and arrived at Pacific Quay just before 7pm. I had been told by a text message reminder for the show from the BBC that seats would be randomly allocated, so there was no bother to turn up early and to queue. I wasn’t sure this was true – it hadn’t been my experience for ANY other BBC recording I’ve gone to – but I didn’t really fancy queuing up outside for an hour before doors opened.
When we arrived, to my disappointment, the queue was already 50 people long. I didn’t fancy our chances of getting near the front. Even more so when I realised that they were seating people as soon as they went through security check-in and were inside the building proper. I could see this once we were near the front of the queue. I had resigned myself to us being further at the back. Once inside and being ushered to the seats, the woman arranging the seating said to me “there are some seats at the front but they are to the right of the stage and quite side-on.” “Oh, I don’t mind that at all,” I replied and the seats were grand. Yes, a bit to the right of the main stage set-up but would still be offering an otherwise clear and unblocked view – unlike what we were initially offered which had quite the pillar to the left of the seats which would have obscured our view, never mind the rows of people in front of us.
There was around 30 minutes before the show would be starting. The show goes out live on air between 8pm-10pm. Around 15 minutes before the start, Roddy Hart came to the stage to say that he’d be speaking to Bryan Burnett live to do a little promo for the show and for us to give a whoop and cheer when cued.
We weren’t sure who was going to be performing first, KT or Loudon, but Em and her savvy powers of deduction had guessed from the positioning of the microphone and all the pedals down around it that KT would be performing first. And she was spot on. KT’s set-up had been placed over to the right of the stage and so we had a very good view of her performance. She performed several songs from her debut album, Eye to the Telescope in recognition of its 20th anniversary, including ‘Miniature Disasters,’ ‘Other Side of the World,’ ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ (with a segue of Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams ‘are Made of This)’ thrown in for good measure, ‘Under the Weather,’ ‘Through the Dark,’ ‘Stoppin’ the Love’ and, of course ‘Suddenly I See.’ KT also managed to cram in TWO covers – one of Fairground Attraction’s ‘Perfect’ and the other? Well, there’s just no escaping the thing! I knew from her preamble she was about to do a Simple Minds song and I was praying it was going to be ANYTHING but THAT song, but alas….
To be fair, she did a much better version of it than those lot did on Jimmy Kimmel. So, I definitely experienced a better live performance last night, for sure!
And of course, as a result of the inescapable singalong, if you listen hard, you can hear my voice chiming in with the la-la-las, FFS!
As for Loudon Wainwright III – my face aches from the endless smiling and giggles when he performs. I love his humour and the way it comes across in his songs and in his general demeanour and vernacular. I can’t recall all the titles of the songs he performed but those I know he did were: ‘Be Careful There’s a Baby in the House,’ ‘I Remember Sex,’ ‘I Knew Your Mother,’ Rufus is a Tit Man,’ ‘White Winos,’ and ‘Oedipus Rex.’ The man is an absolute rapscallion and I love it!
The real gem of the timing that happened last night? Well, it’s the Chinese New Year and over the past two evenings, Glasgow has been subjected to a volley of fireworks. Firstly on Tuesday night – the night of the Chinese New Year, but there was more last night – and they seemed to start just as Loudon was performing ‘I Remember Sex’ which I felt made for impeccable timing!
The return home was going well. It had been a perfect night. Crystal clear skies, stars visible, which is such a rare thing in Glasgow, honestly! I feel like a rarely get to see stars these days. We get back to Anniesland only to find that the next train to Queen Street had been cancelled – so it was quite a chilly wait for the final train home. Thankfully, that one hadn’t been cancelled and although we returned home later than we’d hoped – very cold – we’d had a wonderful night of fantastic live music talent – and all for free!
You can’t say fairer than that.
Here’s the link to the show for your listening delectation on BBC Sounds
