With the wind in his sails following two excellent albums, over the last few years Hamish Hawk has gone from perennial solo support to a headliner who can sell out the Barrowland in a few weeks.
His meteoric rise has been propelled by a burgeoning, devoted fanbase who know every word to every song, so there was a palpable air of expectancy surrounding his biggest headline gig – so far.
First up were show openers Voka Gentle and, although no-one was really there for the Londoners, their groove-based blend of electronica and psychedelia got a positive reaction from a sympathetic audience.
But from the moment Hamish and five-piece band kicked off with ‘Calls To Tiree’ the Barras was jumping.
The contrast between Hamish as a rock band frontman and solo acoustic slinging troubadour is quite stark as he hurtled around the stage like Jarvis Cocker on speed, whilst simultaneously displaying a bewildering range of facial expressions.
The favourites from ‘Heavy Elevator’ and ‘Angel Numbers’ were all greeted with acclaim but then again so were the two new songs, ‘I Can Film You’ and ‘Black Cat Tattoo’.
With a five-piece backing band – two guitars/keyboards, bass and drums – there was no danger that the show would be underpowered and the quintet certainly gave the songs the robust treatment needed to fill a venue of the size of the Barras.
The basic line-up was bolstered with a couple of guest appearances – firstly when Lizzie Reid duetted with Hamish on ‘Rest and Veneers’ then when Imogen and Ellie from Voka Gentle provided backing vocals on ‘Once Upon An Acid Glance’.
The band briefly departed the stage mid-set to leave Hamish to play a solo acoustic rendition of ‘Catherine Opened A Window’, the only recognition of the existence of his earlier records. ‘Catherine …’ provided a welcome counter-point to the grandiosity of much of the rest of the set but when the band returned it was pedal-to-the-metal time as they burned through the remainder of the singles.
The biggest applause was reserved for ‘The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973’ but they chose to finish with an intense blast through ‘Caterpillar’, which stands out as something singular in the Hawk back catalogue.
By this point, the band had pretty much played everything that might otherwise have served as an encore, but there was no doubt that they would be back, most likely with a cover. Yet the choice, the Pixies ‘Debaser’, still came as a surprise to most (but a pleasant one for those in the know) with the Bostonians’ classic pushing the band to another, blistering, level.
So, all the hits + the odd surprise + a euphoric crowd = mission accomplished, surely?
Well…
Despite the elation of the crowd, it wasn’t an entirely satisfying show for this critic.
There was a sense that it was all scripted and that nothing had been left to chance, as illustrated by Hamish’s rare between-song comments or just the lights being killed between each song.
But, perhaps more importantly, other than the handful of songs referred to above, the sound was pretty homogenous throughout with the only variety provided by changes in tempo. Rather than finding ways to broaden the scope of the set it seemed that the extra musicians were there purely to make the sound bigger.
Maybe there’s time for greater variety to be developed in future. But, then again, maybe HH’s apparently unstoppable upward trajectory depends on NOT messing with a formula which is so patently working. And if Hamish and band could easily become the new Coldplay, would that be such a bad thing?
I’ll leave you to make your mind up on that!
(Photos: Fiona McKinlay)