Stag and Dagger has been part of the Glasgow music landscape – and now in Edinburgh with the same acts usually playing there the day before – for quite a few years now and it is fair to say that with over 30 acts on, well you make what you want of it – with all the venues in short distance of each other on the somewhat dilapidated Sauchiehall St if punters don’t like what’s on offer in one venue they can skip between.
Although ostensibly having quite a few “emerging” acts on the bill, S&D has traditionally attracted a slightly more seasoned age-range of punters but occasionally some act on the cusp of blowing up gets booked and there’s an extra buzz – BM didn’t really see that happen this year however…
With basement venue Broadcast the only thing open when things started from 2pm until other things opened around 4-5pm it was quite a crush in there for the first few acts. First up were Glasgow’s FO Machete, who kinda passed BM by when they were first active in the early noughties. The original duo Natasha (lead vocals/bass) and Paul (guitar) are back, playing as a four-piece (with added guitar and drums) and doing both new tracks and older material. With a crunching sound and some great riffs, along with strong vocals and some self-deprecating banter, they went down very well with the crowd, and songs like ‘Kids of Summer’ and new single ‘Confetti Crown’ were excellent.
Next up were London-based quartet Automation, who struggled a bit with technical difficulties (amp problems) but played some slightly eccentric indie-rock with a definite Radiohead influence (although shades of something more shoegaze as well…) – they seemed to be enjoying their first visit to Scotland and the crowd were encouraging.
BM stayed in Broadcast for The Plastic Youth, a Glasgow quintet who have some melodic tunes and quite a ’60s tinge to some of the music, further confirmed when they ended with a spirited cover of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’.
BM made a couple of forays up to the Attic at the Garage but the next act fully caught was Scottish female punk sibling duo Bratacus, playing with a backing drums track and sounding as spiky as ever in Dannsa (formerly The Blue Arrow jazz club, a bit further down Sauchiehall St in the town direction – good to see it open again at least…)
The first act on in the main Garage venue was Benefits, a three-piece from North-East England – BM saw their show at The Rumshack last year and was really impressed – not quite sure why, probably being further away on a higher stage, but BM didn’t really think they connected as much with the audience this time around – also the place was not that full as punters tailed off looking for sustenance after the first few hours… Lead singer Kingsley gave a full-on vocal performance (tracks such as set highlight ‘Traitors’ drips with sarcasm and righteous anger) and the two other band members on keyboards/effects and drums respectively contributed to a wall of sound, but sometimes maybe a bit more tuneage was required, although there are decent tunes on their album.
London-based Fat Dog were not an act that BM was familiar with but they do have a live reputation and have played shows in Scotland before. Their spirited take on party music went down very well in The Garage, the most mental audience reaction that BM saw the entire day in fact (although with so many venues, who knows, maybe something else was…) – a lot of audience participation/moshing, with lead singer Joe in and about the crowd. The tracks in the main were slightly wonky, almost waltz (or klezmer!) meets rave musical combinations and a good dose of sax certainly did the trick, although BM has to say, not too sure what the fuss was about, but anyway…
Last up for today was Hamish Hawk – a brief summary given that BM has seen and reviewed him four times in the past year already. Suffice to say it was another sparkling, mannered and OTT performance by HH and the band, including the promising-sounding new single ‘Big Cat Tattoos’ and playing a fair selection from both albums to an adoring audience… Again, the place was not exactly rammed, but then again he did sell out the Barrowland only back in February and BM guesses a lot of people thought it would simply be a shorter repeat of that, which it generally was…
So another fair year, and that’s just the stuff that BM saw – no doubt other punters had completely different days, which is probably why we keep coming back…
Photos by Dale Harvey
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