In between extreme weather events, Randolph’s Leap played a full band set in the sauna-esque environment of The Glad.
It was still well worth it, as a fairly full Glad witnessed first of all a solo Moonsoup performance.
Straight outta Falkirk, Niamh played solo tonight, without her drummer. She played 5 or 6 tracks, some of which were on her first EP, others of which will be release on EP2 by the mighty Olive Grove records (she couldn’t remember who had booked this gig, but it was of course the redoubtable Lloyd Meredith, heid bummer of OG and a man of impeccable musical taste!). There were some interesting lyrics about “not liking mushrooms”, some epic guitar strumming and the overall effect, for BM anyway, was a channeling of early Cranberries (the voice, mainly) and more current artists such as the great Annie Booth. She has some talent, this one, and could go far.
Sweating even as they came on, The Leap tonight tore through their set, bringing songs both ancient and modern. The “usual” seven-piece setup (Adam on guitar/vocals, other Adam on drums, Vicki on bass, Andrew on guitar, Heather on violin, Pete on keyboards and Fraser on trombone.
This band is so versatile, self-deprecating (Adam’s slight resemblance to a certain other Glasgow indie overload was funnily referenced) – they are pure musical dynamite.
They kicked up a fair old racket tonight, combining indie guitar, folk and a fair bit of ska (yes really)… With clever and witty lyrics, a parping sound with a jumping beat, they fairly blew the roof (careful, massive communal roof repair pending!) with older cuts such as ‘Real Anymore’ and ‘I Can’t Dance To This Music’… We also got a good few new tracks, soon to be recorded for a new Olive Grove-released album in the autumn – hopefully.
As the heat increased there were calls for “water onstage” and Adam (drummer) had some stool problems… but after a wee break (not in the toilets but maybe…) he returned with a better stool, or something…
It got pretty mental towards the end and BM snatched a setlist but lost it – let us just say that after a three song encore they certainly gave their best, and one of the best (though so many to choose from this year) nights at The Glad for quite some time.