This gig was not sold out, another victim of the festive season, but the Phantoms put in a vintage performance despite the brutal 10pm curfew, the club nights making the venue far more money (does BM sound like a broken record, does anyone actually know what that sounds like now, is BM out of date? She does worry, you know…)
So JKSC (the Sex Club Six perhaps) blow the relatively sparse audience away with some completely OTT noise. This six-piece have expanded their horizons somewhat since BM last saw them a few years ago, their lead singer now taking to prowling through the crowd (some were calling him the Paul Spector of Scottish music, apols. to Gillian Anderson if you are reading this…) while ranting about death, destruction and the end of hope – a great pre-Xmas message, but BM salutes you guys and looks forward to 2015’s long-player, no really.
The Phantoms were in relaxed mood despite the brutal 10pm curfew (did I mention this?) and did not moan – this was their own office Xmas party after long months of touring. A selection of tracks old and new, with Redbeard in fine vocal form, aided by his cohorts and brass for last anthemic number. A suspected Nick Cave cover (‘Long Time Gone’) was epic and there were some very Doors-esque (is that a word?) or Doorsey things going on. Fantastic as ever, just don’t have the time to comment further, or even reference back the Green “swimming” medals appearance – it has been a long year and everyone deserves a bit of a rest, even The Phantoms – respect due and hope to hear a more lengthy, less constrained live gig in 2015.
Nighty night.