Hamish Hawk (+ Redolent) – The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen – 09/02/2025

I’m not sure I can offer up anything else about this man and his band. You’d have had to be living under a rock or you just happen to be a first-time visitor to this blog not to have noticed what an impact Hamish Hawk has had upon me over the past two years in particular. It’s just coming up to two years since I first saw a headline show – at St Luke’s – just when the stellar Angel Numbers came out.

Reflecting on this time I now think the Simple Minds gig at Princes Street Gardens was my opening taster and exposure to Hamish, but the REAL snare was that first St Luke’s show at the start of 2023.

My only other trip to Aberdeen so far had been to see Simple Minds at P&J Live. That was a really stressful trip and there was nothing of the centre of Aberdeen I had experienced then. The P&J is way out from the city centre, closer to the airport – and there isn’t anything around it. But I was keen to see Hamish for as many shows as I could feasibly get to and when looking at where The Lemon Tree was located and that it was within the city centre, I had to go for it.

Just by luck this past weekend Aberdeen had been hosting a light festival called Spectra. There were displays all over the city with the main display on in Union Terrace Gardens. I didn’t get to see much of it but I knew on the way to the venue from where I was staying I’d get to go past the Aberdeen sign as well as the giant colourful slinky that was on display outside the Marischal College building. An opportunity for a photo op on the way to the gig.

I arrived at the Lemon Tree just after 6pm and two men were already queuing. I recognised them from September’s gig at the Liquid Room in Edinburgh. Hamish already has quite the set of fanatical supporters. One of the men – I feel terrible that my sieve brain can’t remember his name – had been queuing since 5pm. We passed the time by chatting away about gigs and venues and how chilly it was getting and OMG let’s hope they open the doors bang on 7 before we all freeze to death! Lol. Pragmatically, I was saying to them that considering the time of year it was positively balmy. The night was dry, the breeze relatively low and the temp was above freezing – given it’s the second week of February is pretty darn amazing! We soon warmed up inside.

The Lemon Tree is a small place. They say the space is 550 capacity – so a little larger than King Tut’s but not much. I was lucky enough to get front row of course, having queued early but I think you could get a good view from just about anywhere as long as you weren’t blocked by a row of big burly blokes.

I was happy to see that Redolent were on as support. I enjoyed seeing them with Hamish when he played the Bootleg Social in Blackpool in 2023. They were great again. Lots of energy. Much bouncing about on stage and their drummer is a demon. I’ll admit that I don’t seek out their music too much – I feel far too old for it, but I do really enjoy watching them perform live and look forward to seeing them again at the Usher Hall for the final gig of the tour.

The cheer that went up for the band and Hamish when they arrived on stage was fabulous! They wasted no time and just went straight into the set with the first four tracks of A Firmer Hand: ‘Juliet as Epithet,’ ‘Machiavelli’s Room,’ ‘Big Cat Tattoos’ and ‘Nancy Dearest.’ I could make out from spying the setlists on the stage floor that, naturally, ‘Autobiography of Spy’ was going to be next – and I wanted to film it. So here…enjoy (see below)!

A few more from the album: ‘You Can Film Me,’ ‘Men Like Wire,’ and ‘Disingenuous’ all performed immaculately. Of the oldies? There was performances of: ‘Money,’ ‘Calls to Tiree,’ the beautiful ‘Bridget St. John,’ ‘Rest & Veneers,’ ‘Desperately,’ another personal fave ‘Think of Us Kissing,’ ‘Bakerloo, Unbecoming,’ the “badminton one” and firm set closer, ‘Caterpillar.’ Around mid-set, the band went off for a breather as Hamish performed on acoustic guitar the very beautiful ‘Catherine Opens a Window.’ You could hear a pin drop. He had the crowd suitably captivated. The sound of it – the echo effect on his voice – it was spellbinding and fabulous. I played the clip I recorded to the Other Half this morning and she was in floods by the time Hamish was done.

Afterwards, the couple I had befriended from the start of the night – Mr First-in-the-queue-from-5pm and his wife (who was wise enough to wait in the Premier Inn across the road from the Lemon Tree until much closer to doors open) – waited around. We were hoping to get to say hello to Hamish.

Eventually we were turfed out of the venue, then we hung about for a while outside just near the back alley to the venue, ever hopeful. They waited for as long as they felt able to, then left me to it. So, there I was on my own. I watched all the staff mill out and leave. At that point I decided to wander down the alley a bit and watch the grand display of tetris that the roadies made of packing the van up.

It was at this point I was thinking that maybe I should just go – I was looking a bit desperate was I not? Just standing around, waiting. Is it dedication? How much of a saddo do you seem to want to wait? How much do you seem like a hanger-on? At what point do you give up? Is it dignified? I probably should go now…but I’ve waited this long already…I don’t know? Who wants to look like some saddo? (Don’t answer that!)

Eventually the van was packed. I had little bits of conversation with the roadies. Stefan came out at times and I had wee chats with him. I told him that I love his drumming and he was genuinely happy to hear such words. John, Ollie and Lizzie came out then, along with Stefan once again. Andrew came out then and came over and said hello to me. He had his AAA pass and said to me “Would you like to have this?” How very, very kind of him. He told me about the first act he’d seen play the Usher Hall. Talked about Bellahouston and said to me “As soon as the show was announced I thought of you. I thought, ooh I know who’s going to like this!” Lol. How very sweet is that? Lastly, Hamish appeared. Andrew said to him, “Larelle’s coming to Newcastle and Edinburgh to see us.” I am so stunned they remember my name. It just blows me away. A little bit of chit chat with Hamish. He asked how the gig sounded – I said “perfect.” And then they were in the van and off. They passed me as I was walking back to the hotel, a wave from the van window from Stefan. They are all just such lovely people.

I was on a tight budget for my trip to Aberdeen. I had got myself some Too Good To Go surprise bags to keep me fuelled. One from Krispy Kreme (Shhh! Don’t tell Tantrum! Lol) – a box of six doughnuts, of my choosing(!) for £4.65 – £14.95 at full price! Thank you Too Good To Go and Krispy Kreme! The other was from Costa Coffee. There was a whole palaver with that that I’ll save you the trauma of – but all’s well that ends well and the staff kindly gave me vegetarian savoury goods: so I had a tomato and mozzarella panini, a mushroom and egg bap, and a beanz and cheese toastie (not hot, but that was okay) for £3.50. They were cold but perfectly good to eat cold. All of this covered my tea on Sunday night, breakfast Monday morning and tea last night.

My train back to Glasgow wasn’t until 4.30pm so I decided to go to the Maritime Museum which was just across the road from the Ibis Quayside I was staying at. I enjoyed that and stayed there for a good couple of hours. I then went to the art gallery and there really is quite a lot to see there. There’s even a Tracey Emin neon piece there which made me very happy. There’s a Millais called Bright Eyes on display there as well. I didn’t get to see everything on display – so I HAVE to go back to Aberdeen! Their art gallery is REALLY good!

I really did enjoy my second adventure to Aberdeen and it has made me eager to return.

When I got back to Glasgow and took a seat in the concourse at Queen Street station – who should I see peering down at me (see below)? FFS! Lol. There’s no escape!

As for gigs – on to Newcastle tomorrow to do it all over again with Hamish and co!