With disappointed Blink 182 fans roaming the streets outside after their OVO Glasgow show being postponed it felt lucky to be at a sold-out lineup of Glasgow’s finest bands in the Old Hairdressers.
Between confusing “The Bleeders” with “The Breeders” and them opening with a cover of Pixies’ ‘Isla de Encanta’ I was probably not the only one wondering if the first band (The Bleeders) was going to be a Kim Deal tribute act. The references did seem to stop after the first song as they moved on to their own material and immediately started giving off Josh Homme / QOSTA / Eagles of Death Metal vibes with a bass-heavy classic rock sound and a good amount of humour in their lyrics. Adorned with KISSesque facepaint and a number of guests joining them to play guitar, this was a band that was a lot of fun to see live.
Next up was Big Girls Blouse who came out playing a set of mostly new material, hopefully hinting towards some new releases upcoming; not all songs were brand new however as the set ended with a truly joyful moment with almost the entire crowd singing the opening to ‘Everybody Nearly Dies All The Time’ which has to be up there with one of the singles of the year. They will be playing the Tenement Trail next month in another must-see gig.
Fool me once shame on you, and by the third time seeing Lloyds House over the last year there really shouldn’t be any surprises left… but it’s hard to end a Lloyds House show without feeling like you are seeing something special. There are a lot of bands making authentic heartfelt music and plenty of bands making fun and bouncy catchy songs, but it’s a rare talent that manages to do them both so consistently.
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And finally the main event as tonight was to celebrate the launch of Gelatine’s newest EP ‘TV Dinners’. Ross Mills is doing his second shift on guitar (after also playing in Big Girls Blouse earlier) and it may be the resemblance as a tall guy in a shirt but Jason Houston was giving echoes of Ian Curtis with his voice adding a bit of an edge to Gelatines jangly frenetic rock. This was all going down so well in the tiny sold-out venue that the front of the crowd had to take turns protecting the speakers from being knocked over.
Even if the Blink 182 show had gone ahead, it’s hard to imagine the arena-level atmosphere being able to compete with 150 sweaty people bouncing around in a cramped room with some of the best bands Glasgow has to offer.
