This was the day of the big water main burst in South Glasgow so the show was only confirmed as going ahead quite late in the day, as the venue miraculously had water while most of the surrounding area didn’t.
Sadly this meant that support act N’famady Kouyaté was missed, although the venue for this Celtic Connections show, although maybe not a complete sell-out was certainly rammed – BM not having it seen it so busy in years, with people even on the balcony.
Ibibio Sound Machine are a London-based collective combining Afrobeat with funk, jazz, soul and reggae to produce a heady mix which tend to lead to a lot of dancing, and they certainly managed that in probably their biggest Glasgow headline show to date.
With the audience instantly in the palm of her hand, vocalist Eno Williams danced and pranced her way through opening number ‘Electricity’ and the buzzing atmosphere really never abated for the next hour and a bit. With a three-piece brass section, guitar, bass, drums and various beat-generating machines, the rest of the band were a formidable musical unit to back Eno’s strong, Grace Jones-esque vocals.
With some lyrics in English, some in Ibibio and maybe other dialects, the main focus was partying and having a good time, with quite a few call-and-response numbers getting the audience fully involved.
The band have a reasonable back catalogue after over a decade of playing and making records, and they drew on the catchiest, most infectious numbers, including ‘…Sweet Like Sugar’ and the peerless ‘Let’s Dance’. By the time they finished (a one-song encore) the place was like a sauna, and surely promoters might consider using Tramway a bit more for this kind of gig? We’ll see…
Photos by Garry McLean
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