Drygate is an interesting venue, an annexe of the giant Tennants brewery next door and tucked between the Cathedral and The Necropolis – the venue on the first floor has a low stage but much of the level area tonight was taken up by the 15-piece Glasgow Barons Orchestra, conducted by Paul MacAlinden tonight.
The gig was a playthrough of the two albums Steg and his vocal collaborators have recorded with the Glasgow Barons, 2019’s ‘The Air Between’ and 2021’s ‘Live Today’ – there’s a leaflet giving everyone’s credits and biogs, very much like a classical concert. And the array of vocal talent deployed was quite something – everyone nailed their vocals tonight!
It must have been a tricky thing to get this right live but the soundmix was great, balancing the orchestral notes with what was coming from Steg’s decks and electronic beats. Also billing it as “with orchestra” etc may have put a few people off but the overall atmosphere was very exclusive and it drew a fair crowd, also considering the number of other shows on over this weekend…
BM missed the first few tracks, arriving in time Solareye’s diatribe on immigration, debt problems ‘Scattered Seeds and Deep Roots’ which is still an immense piece of work…
The rest of the album also come across very well, and the main thing here is the total commitment to collaboration, with the younger generation (CCTV, Empress) and the older “pioneers” (Freestyle Master, Solareye) in total support of each other, with Steg at the back, the master collaborator…
After a longish break we then get the most recent work ‘Live Today’, which if anything is even more collaborative as at times all the guest artists were onstage and riffing off each other…
The audience certainly lapped this us – although having the orchestra at the front did make for some distance between the vocalists and the audience, otherwise BM suspects there might well have been a stage invasion.
BM suggests that people listen to both these albums, they certainly confirm the fact that “Scottish people can rap”. The evening ends with some tributes to people lost, some quite recently. Last track of ‘Live Today’, ‘Funeral For a Friend’ is not an easy listen but evokes a lot of feelings – Steg himself said from the stage that it was emotional, and in fact the whole performance tonight felt cathartic, part due to some of the crowd who hadn’t seen each other since lockdown, but also, the material is gut-wrenchingly real, drawn from real life experiences and people’s life stories.
Overall a bold but very successful event, and respect to everyone who was involved.