At least one listing for this show declares that the Legendary Glasgow act will be performing their “hits”. In front of a hometown crowd renowned for its for hecklers, this promise could go challenged by the fans as much as by Trading Standards.
The evening’s top bit of audience banter is probably “play a new song” - knowingly sarcastic, it prompts singer Paul Buchanan to muses on how the band are famous for not making records. And indeed, the biggest mystery for many will be how this band, who’ve released 4 albums in 28 years, manage to fill the Concert Hall 3 nights in a row.
It may of course be dedication and slavish duty to the cause of fandom, but then again, live shows by this act are rare events, this being their first in eight years. The audience demographic is mainly older and the shouts suggest an intimate friendship with those on stage, though there are a few younger types present, perhaps brought up on parents’ collections.
So it’s sad that this preamble must extend to a short dissection of the support. An Australian-based Cockney, her main claim to fame is airplay on Wogan. Which is no particular problem in itself, but the bland and anodyne choice of singer-songwriter - which goes down surprisingly well with the crowd - is a surprise given the pioneering history of a band from Glasgow, a city blessed with edgy poppy electronic acts who would surely have been a rather more apt taster for the night’s entertainment.
The band’s history shows that after a debut single ‘Love This Life’ they were picked up by Linn Records - hi-fi manufacturers who saw that the band’s attention to sonic detail would serve as a fine showcase for their top-notch equipment.
So when they kick off with that album’s title track ‘A Walk Across the Rooftops’ there’s a curious false start in two senses - the first that Paul Buchanan misses his cue - “we should have rehearsed” he jokes, red-faced - but also that when the tune does get going, there’s an almost soulless feel to the performance. Just like listening to a tape, or in this case, 180gsm vinyl.
This may be due to rustiness, but it’s not until ‘From A Late Night Train’ that the band get truly on track (pun not intended) and we really see man and machine in harmony. Buchanan’s soulful vocals are are clear and as heartfelt as they were on those original recordings while the backing - expanded to a 6-piece from the original recorded trio - do well to recreate the atmosphere as well as the sound of the first two albums.
Then it IS the hits, mixing languorous electropop with stark balladry; ‘Saturday Night’ a perfect example. The set’s not all highs, there are selections from the ill-starred Peace at Last album which are shown up as a too obvious some stab at MOR pop - i.e. not very Blue Nile. The tunes drawn from Here are similarly less known to many in the audience despite being this their ‘current’ release (i.e. from 2004). They’re back on track with showstopper ‘Easter Parade’, majestically stark, like Joy Division for grown-ups. The show draws to a close as Buchanan muses “I wonder what the last song could be?” ‘Tinsletown In The Rain’, of course, which again fuss 80s electropop with a timeless delivery
If the fact they’re now a four-album band has one benefit it’s that they can do an encore without actually repeating themselves (as they’ve done in the past). So it’s ‘Downtown Lights’ and despite the band being in a ebullient mood, the evening ends on a downer with their downbeat cover of ‘Strangers In The Night’. And despite the band’s new-found cheeriness, we’d not have it any other way.
//Stuart McHugh