The weather was a bit sunny and a bit breezy, the stage was huge, the atmosphere was laid back, a perfect time and venue for Painted X-Ray‘s taiko drums, subtle then heavy guitar and bass, and good bit of fiddle as well. This combo plays also as “Ilk” and mixes the muscular, strident large drums with some noises but also at times builds up into Sonic Youth levels of crumpled guitar noise and thumping bass.
The massive sound system and the perfect outdoor weather suited this outfit perfectly and they must surely have won over some new fans from the assembled tourists, randoms, freeloaders (it was a free gig) and noise afficionados… They played five or so tracks over around half an hour, and BM recommends that you check them out soon…
Next up was a nod to the other half of the 2018 Euro (dirty or deal) Championships, Berlin, which is holding the athletics events. Barbara Morgenstern is a one-woman electronic and vocal act, singing mainly in German.
Saying she was very happy to be here, her dark, complex and affecting electro sounds topped with her sweet but adaptable voice went down pretty well with this mixed audience, ‘The Operator’ sung in English for example is a great track, like Kraftwerk vs Ladytron, excellent stuff.
Glasgow in the pale August sun almost seemed quite a European city, barely six months before the shutters come down for good – you can say goodbye to this kind of Brit/Ger sporting collaboration after that, welcome to the new dark ages… Mark E Smith got it right all these years ago with ‘Free Range’, always did have a psykick talent to predict the future…calm down Betty, don’t rant, this was a great gig…
RM Hubbert was on next and he played a blinder – self-effacing as usual, his guitar work was truly mesmeric/mesmerising and he was relaxed and chatty, avoiding the swearies for this mixed family audience. He got Alastair Roberts on to do a song, the audience rapt in silence as the vocals and RM’s amazing acoustic resonated across George Square, across the massive ‘People Make Glasgow’ side of the college, across the now revealed classic Victorian front of Queen St Station after that fucking horrible concrete tower block in front of it has been torn down…
We also got ‘Bolt’, ‘The Dog’ with a guest appearance from headline Kathryn Joseph with her eldritch tones lighting up the air (an argument about puppy-killing erupted just before this one)… and best of all, a solo rendition of the Hubbert/Moffat ‘Car Song’, so evocative, a bit nostalgic, as the gulls swooped over the Square and little fluffy clouds moved overhead, quite sublime and a moment that BM will reflect on as an indication of musical bliss…
Unfortunately other commitments (moany, 13 year old, wants to go back home, bless) meant that the headline set was missed but BM’s sources hear it was a blinder, heavy on established material but with some tasty new ones thrown in as well.
Thanks are due to Glasgow 2018 for allowing this stuff to happen, with just a wee whiff tonight of that golden Commonwealth Games summer.