In that slightly odd period some stupid journalists refer to as “twixtmas” (and good god BM read a lot of crap journalism over the holidays, worst one being an article about how having matching Xmas jumpsuits really bonded their family, made Glenda Slagg of Private Eye look sophisticated, anyway… /rant…) it was nice to have something in the gig calendar to look forward to.
After a debut appearance (in October 2023) at this 5-a-side football venue (in the bar, not on the pitches) Scaramanga’s “people” (he’s called Chris Ritchie!) decided not only to book another gig but also to add Southside institution (insert joke about institutions here, many people previously have…) HRATVU as an opening act. It is also worth mentioning the visuals made by Scaramanga collaborator Thriftshop, who also designed the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus” branding used tonight, very groovy, and it gave the gig something of the feeling of a special event…
The place was pretty full when things kicked off, the band crashing through the first number as Hugh boxed his way around the crowd with oversized boxing gloves (the first of many props). The sound system was under a bit more strain than that previous Scaramanga gig as it was having to cope with live guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals (plus a couple of guest instrumental spots from Hobbit) but it held good, actually sounded great, credit also to Chris.
Hugh wasted no time in launching into ‘Six To Wan’, perhaps his best known track. With multiple changes of costume and props he bellowed at the audience, who were luckily good sports about having things chucked around the room and threatening to send pint glasses flying – BM would have loved to have been at the Health and Safety assessment for this one – suspect no-one told Goals management exactly what this act was (“plus support”… ah fine then…). Hugh performed quite a bit of the set from on top of various tables (further tracks included ‘Car Nicked’ and ‘Scots and Proud’) and he produced guffaws with his 1999 parody (“I was steaming when I wrote, so sorry if it doesnae rhyme…etc”) and did pretty much everything to bring the house down – luckily he didn’t and was very humble in his “thankyous” to the audience.
It took a wee while to clear up the aftermath and to get everything off the stage before the headliners appeared, playing as the original duo tonight, ie no female backing/guest singers for various reasons. As usual they sounded great, Paul’s semi-operatic tones wowing the audience with numbers like ‘Live Your Life’ and ‘Paris’, while the electronic cover version of ‘Welcome To The Machine’ again sounded like a distant relation of Scissor Sisters’ take on ‘Comfortably Numb’, and just as good. So another triumph by Southside Glasgow’s answer to Erasure (and BM means this in the best possible way…) – what will 2024 bring?
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