So, back at the Barras, the first show there since probably Goodbye Mr Mackenzie in December 2019 – and they still haven’t upgraded the toilets…
Anyway, this was a hotly anticipated gig, and the venue was by the time Arab Strap came on around 90% full, officially sold out but BM suspects capacity was reduced to allow a bit of social distancing. A lot of people were wearing masks and the audience was generally respectful of one another, good to see after such a long break from bigger gigs. The bar was busy but well-organised, so it generally felt safe for people who may have had qualms about a 2000-capacity inside event…
Glasgow-based Cloth were on first and played a great set of understated but fascinating music, the three-piece setup (drums and bass pads plus two guitars and largely female vocals) giving us some slightly xx-influenced tunes plus a great closer when the guitars really opened up. And they sounded great through the big sound system, playing tracks mainly from their self-titled debut released a wee while ago.
And so to the main event – Arab Strap of course released their first new material in umpteen years with ‘As Days Get Dark‘ early in 2021. The 19 track set included six tracks from this, plus a selection of greatest hits, fan favourites and some unlikely obscurities as well. The core duo of Aidan Moffat and Malcom Middleton were joined by drums, bass, and piano/additional guitar from yer man Johnny Smillie. No Jenny Reeve, although Aidan did make reference to her not being able to make the full tour (this was the last of a number of UK dates).
From the start the band were in top form, very little chat and strictly down to business for Aidan, getting help from written down lyrics at times but battering through the material at pace, giving the audience pretty much everything they might have wanted. The new tracks shone, the older tracks took on added significance (“thinking about a test” from ‘Packs of Three’ for example…) and the band brought off some truly magical moments. Malcolm was largely silent but his guitar-playing spoke for itself, still incredibly underrated… New album track ‘Tale of the Urban Fox’ was dedicated to Priti Patel, which drew a massive cheer.
The audience was very mixed in age, through quite male overall, and several times a moshpit started to form, not a feature of too many previous Strap gigs, although the resounding cacophony of tracks like ‘Girls of Summer’ and ‘Speed Date’ certainly justified it.
As things drew to a close Aidan relaxed a wee bit and there was some chat – mainly about which songs were about shagging and which weren’t. During main set closer ‘The Last Great Weekend’ the audience worked itself into a frenzy and chanted the chorus for a good five minutes after the band left the stage… again unprecedented and an indication of their love for Falkirk’s finest.
The encore was an acoustic couple – ‘Packs of Three’ and ‘Shy Retirer’, a nod back to the origins of a lot of this material, written by two incredibly talented individuals (who of course have both released excellent solo and collaborative material) – then after “the pigs chuck us out” the audience was released into the Glasgow night and a battle with the TRSMT crowd to get “up the road” – hopefully the next generation of bedsit miserablists were among their number…