Respect due to the LNFG organisation and Teen Canteen for organising this bash – “The Christmas Effect” – to raise money for the charities Women’s Aid and the Scottish Refugee Council, both very worthy causes. This was a very entertaining and collaborative evening (rounding off a good year for LNFG with some great releases and events), no egos or fronts about it, with some sweet performances. BM is not the biggest fan of Christmas songs in general and could see an Xmas jumper far enough (they play havoc with the decolletage as well) – would do anything for charidee, but won’t wear that.. (with apologies to Meatloaf…).
A large number of acts had been scheduled to appear at this, not all “from Glasgow” and there were a few changes and swaparounds.
Anyway the first act (so maybe not the very first actual act, commenters can put me right on this…) BM saw (and Mono was packed) was Mt. Doubt, who as a two-piece (Leo Bargery on guitar/vocals and and female duettist Annie Booth, she was great) doing one original and one cover (a hymn, despite popular rumour BM attended convent school could not quite be identified!) – very mellow, very festive and a good start.
Next up, Mark W. Georgsson, who with a full band did another old hymn (sorry again for no title, but it was on a Surfjan Stevens Xmas album a few years ago) then a Low Xmas number, ramped up by a Zydeco backing, with Emme Woods on double bass and some serious drum and guitar licks. The audience was now beginning to get into it a bit with some swaying and foot tapping.
The overall atmosphere at this event was a bit Sunday night, ie not mental, but the presence of Last Night From Glasgow Directors and the various band members with fake Xmas cakes on their heads, Santa outfits (most of Teen Canteen) a raffle and a general sense of bonhomie and goodwill to all gave everyone a lot of seasonal cheer in a year without too much to celebrate for many.
Things then took a surreal turn when Emme Woods (performing with various others, BM thinks both of the guitarists who play with Carla from Teen Canteen’s musical offshoot project Ette did quite a lot of the spadework this evening, respect due!) apologised for not doing a pure Xmas number but instead adapted The Doors ‘Riders on the Storm’ to “Riders on the Sleigh”. Some serious bluesy emoting was going on here but the lines about Santa “only coming once a year” lead to some disturbing mental images for some of us – like WTF is going to be flowing down that chimney… sorry, and the other track they played (‘Santa Baby’) did not really help… Great performances though, seriously!
At this point and after a few eggnoggs (well beer actually but..) the running order begins to blur but that has never held any previous BM reviews back so let us carry on regardless.
Boohoohooo (still in the running at this point for a Hogmanay opening slot for Paulo Nutini, voting online now closed) upped the ante considerably with a bold take on choirboy sellout Aled Jones’ track ‘Walking in the Air’. Well the falsetto was a bit dodgy, the grimaces between band members excruciating but hey this was not a normal gig, this was supposed to be fun! Things took a turn for the worse when they then attempted the truly terrible Darkness No 1 (no really, was the nation insane – 2006?) ‘Don’t let the Bellend’ (or something) – were BHH game for a laugh or what? Like BM said, not a real gig, although it has now been noted that if the current (and BM endorsed) bid for worldwide domination goes tits-up, they could make a living as Scotland’s third-best Darkness tribute act, happy days indeed!
BM thinks Ette (Carla Easton of Teen Canteen’s “other” musical project) was next – like the others they played two songs, firstly a truly great cover of ‘Christmas Wrapping’ by the Waitresses (Carla on sax which she claimed she had “not touched for 15 years”, ok there were a few bum notes but it sound pretty bloody good, expect a sax covers album from Ette in 2017 with ‘Careless Whisper’ as lead track) and ended by bashing through the 1973 (no 1972, 1973 was Slade?) Wizzard monster “I Wish it could be Christmas every day” which allowed for some decent guitar licks and a big of a singalong.
Honey and the Herbs appeared, firstly to sing a very pretty accapella and then have a cheesy but very funny run through Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ complete with sighs and eyelash-batting at the appropriate moments, also Christmas jumpers ahoy lads, they certainly entered into the festive spirit etc, not seen them before and look forward to one of their “normal” gigs (nothing about tonight was normal!).
Broken Records then appeared, a late and very welcome addition to the bill. They tackled the Rea yuppie classic ‘Driving Home For Christmas” with gusto, then one of their own (something about beer?) which they have played at various festive events in the capital over the years. This a brief but quality appearance from the band who wowed Betty somewhat at the Glad Cafe back in October.
Appearing last (and having “hosted” the event much respect due again) were Teen Canteen, who took things to another level with a cover of the Mariah Carey belter ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, a truly scary song for singers to cover BM would imagine, as it sounds quite show-offy and technically demanding. The band did a good deal of justice to this ridiculous number and Carla risked embarrassment for not “hitting the notes” like Mariah but let’s face it, no one is going to out-Carey the Carey and it was a brave and entertaining effort. The second and last number was a cover of ‘Fairytale of New York’, possibly the biggest challenge of the night as it is a poignant song and many people’s Xmas fave, not really one to be mucked up either. Teencanteen made a good stab, with Eugene Kelly taking the McGowan vocal lines. This worked very well and the audience were singing their hearts out, the real spirit of Christmas being found somewhere in the “drunk tank” in NYC, as is should be, and goodwill to all men etc.
After lots of thankyous to all concerned there remained the raffle to call, which was done professionally and without incident by Carla and the LNFG guys (BM reviews raffles as well you know and would give this four stars) and although some of us won nothing at all (shut up!) the event by the end had raised a good £3K (and counting) for the charities chosen – a really good result.
So overall, a good end to LNFG’s year. BM does not usually reference other articles online but the Louder Than War piece on LNFG is a really good summation of what they are about, and let’s have more of the same and same but different in 2017.