Although Celtic Connections has expanded and developed over its 17 or so years in existence, the question that any gig goer – be they of an indie, rock, folk or Americana bent – is ”what’s the Celtic Connection?”
On the surface, this show as as close was we ge to ‘Celtic’ without bodhrans or bagpipes. Indeed, support Heathers, despie their album Here Not There getting good reviews from the indie community, are an Irish acoustic duo making decidedly folk-tinged sounds. Again, that’s the superficial view – dig deeper and tunes like ‘Remember When’ and ‘What’s Your Damage’ are actually pretty edgy – sporting choppy, aggressive guitar work and pretty fiery harmonies, they veer between the lilting Irish melodies we expect here, and the kind of songsmithery that we’d expect from Frightened Rabbit or even Biffy Clyro.
The one down point is a Beyonce cover – ’Halo’ – which is rather shown up for the pedestrian tune it is and despite the two girls confessing up to being fans of Ms Knowles, their other cover, a Mountain Goats tune, sits rather nore comfortably in what’s an accomplished set of songs.
Celtic Connections was pretty much designed to fill a gap in the winter, giving the locals live music to go see in what is usually a quiet time for entertainment (and everything else). And it seems to have done the trick. I’m not sure what size of crowd Justin Currie would usually expect to draw in his hometown, but bigger stars have failed to pack out the ABC.
Currie, despite seeming relaxed about the whole thing – after all, latterly Del Amitri were, in effect, a stadium rock act – but apart from some early japes about the “old cunts” that comprise his backing band, he’s oddly uncommunicative. Though we get an aside about the youthful drummer who was, we’re told, recently carded in Tesco.
Currie’s voice is still in perfect working order, in fact everything about the show is perfect, his old stagers doing a sterling job in recreating a selection of band and solo back catalogue. Even the sideburns and floppy fringe are present and coprrect, and his voice is in great nick.
But there’s something not quite right. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems a wee bit too safe perhaps – think Paul Young fronting a brass-ess Commitments at times, especially on the occasions when Currie abandons guitar to take over the mic, crooner-style.
So it’s no great surprise we don’t get ‘Hammering Heart’ (or ‘Ace of Spades’ come to that), but to his credit he does take the odd risk – ‘Always The Last To Know’ is stripped back and tinkered with, rendering it impossible to sing along with. Closing a value-for-money set is ‘The Fight To Be Human’ – a long and broodily intense number, it’s decidedly non-Celtic and enough to test the patience of anyone there for the Hit(s).
Encores in the bag, Currie seems to relax, chatting away with the audience and fielding requests from the more obscure corners of his back catalogue (“I can’t remember that one”). Instead, we’re checking off ‘Be My Downfall’ as the crowd finally unite as one and we’re transported to Hampden. No, there’s no ‘Don’t Come Home Too Soon’, as the crowd unite, belting out Currie’s version of the national anthem, ‘Nothing Ever Happens’.
Maybe that’s the connection we’ve been looking for.
