I know! It’s Christmas Day…go figure! What else am I going to do today? Take a walk? Eat myself silly (very tempting…don’t even get me started)?
Anyway…this might be a short review. Then again, that could be famous last words for when have I ever written a SHORT review? Lol.
All the peripherals out the way first. The weather was kind. It was overcast but dry and had been like that for most of the day. The breeze was subtle. I rugged up because I felt like I’d be freezing in the queue. It felt much colder to me than it was waiting in the queue for the Hamish Hawk gig two weeks back. I wore a hat and everything!
So and I spotted Mark in the queue when we arrived. We started queuing around 5.30pm. After a while we got chatting to a guy that had travelled up from Cheltenham. The 90 minutes of queuing drifted away quite quickly as a result.
It was a bit of a free-for-all getting into the Barras. Sue and Mark left me for dead on the race up the stairs. Thankfully they’re both way faster and saved a spot for me at the very far left end of the barrier.
It wasn’t long until support act, Iona Luke, appeared on stage. I enjoyed her set. She has an incredible voice. I will keep an eye and ear out for her. She doesn’t have anything released yet but with the lungs on her I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before she has music commercially released. There were some arseholes behind us – you know the type – the group of female friends, the drinky Glesga gal pals that have been let off their leashes for the night and think the night is all about them and they’re gonna ‘rip it up the night’ and not give a shit about who they fucking piss off and talk over the support act and just be absolute FUDS! They did eventually shut the fuck up but not before wrecking the enjoyment of at least half of Iona’s set. Bitches!
We had a long wait for the Dels. If only those fuds behind us had been told they’d have an hour to talk themselves hoarse and tell the whole crowd the ins and outs of their sheltered wee lives then maybe they would have SHUT THE FUCK UP while Iona was on. So, Iona’s set was done by 8pm or very shortly after. We waited until 9pm for the Dels but my word they were worth the wait!
My God, Justin Currie – what a frontman! Just absolutely first class. A voice that is still utterly faultless and no excuses whatsoever – he’s not playing any ‘victim’ card up there. He’s not expecting any special treatment because the Parkinson’s is naturally making things more difficult for him. He disnae want people’s sympathy! And he just fucking NAILS IT! Some other frontmen *cough* YOU KNOW WHO *cough* could REALLY learn a thing or two on how to actually DELIVER rather than coast (and give the bleeding heart story/soundbite of “we give 100 per cent night after night.” Like fucking fuck you do! Well, perhaps your band does…Charlie does…but you? Jog on!). Justin Currie on the other hand! He gives – he REALLY GIVES! And he was ready to drop at the end of the show. I was about to drop…for the first time in a very long time I was riding very close to having a vasovagal fainting attack. It was STIFLING in the Barras.
It was 23-song set. Justin did not take a rest until the encore. And even then, that break from main set to encore was no longer than three minutes. I honestly don’t know how he did it – and he was absolutely impeccable with it! Just another class altogether.
I didn’t take any photos or video of Iona. And I just took a few quick snaps of Justin during the encore. One of the crew came out during the break in the set to place some Christmas crackers around the stage. Justin was wearing a hat from the cracker he’d pulled and I just wanted to try and get a snap of him with his crown on. That’s all I got.
But not just Justin, the whole band were bloody brilliant. What a show! And the piece de resistance for Sue – she had scored herself her first ever setlist from a Dels show. She was absolutely over the moon. I was over the moon for her. A setlist from a Barras gig is quite the prize.
Highlight of the night for me musically? I think it had to be ‘Always the Last to Know,’ followed closely by ‘Mockingbird.’
I think this one will stick in the memory for a long while and is a real contender now for Gig of the Year. Stay tuned folks!
