This was billed as the 10th Tenement Trail – the DF/Tennents-sponsored event has been going for around a decade since 2014 with just one Covid break, this being maybe the fourth year since it decamped from central Glasgow to the East End.
With a couple of dozen bands housed in eight venues it’d be impractical to attempt to review everything witnessed on the day, but here are several highlights:
Glasgow outfit and BM favourite Neverfine were on mid-afternoon at Barras Art and Design and attracted a reasonable crowd. Playing as a three-piece (Ashley on vocals, Craig on keyboards/guitar and Edwin on drums), their dramatic blend of Chvrches/Garbage-influenced electropop went down pretty well even in broad daylight. Ashley teased with new single announcement (titled ‘Lucid’) while for these ears it was probably on older track ‘Imaginary Friends’ that they achieved real lift-off this afternoon.
Edinburgh outfit Redolent have impressed BM in the past and have recently staked their claim on the Scottish Album of the Year shortlist of 10 with their debut album ‘Dinny Greet’, quite an accolade for relative newcomers. They drew a sizeable and quite excitable crowd in the bar at Barrowland 2, the lineup slimmed down on this occasion to a four-piece (Danny, Robin, Alice and Robbie). Maybe there were some nerves but they took a couple of songs to really get going, when they did though…. – set highlight was probably the album title track, although ‘Just Trying to Relax’ and opener ‘Space Cadet’ also stung with the frustration of dead-end jobs and lives. Is this indie guitar-pop (there is a guitar!) or is it more like a fusion of something like Dua Lipa and Franz Ferdinand? Maybe it’s the brotherly thing but BM can’t help thinking this is what a band like Frightened Rabbit would be doing if they have emerged in the 2020s rather than when they did…
Glasgow-based Former Champ put in a decent shift at BAAD later in the afternoon – comprising several members of indie-rockers Savage Mansion, fronted by solo artist in her own right Martha Ffion, they played some new material and some more familiar numbers – think Teenage Fanclub/Strokes melodies backing some introspective but country-tinged vocals – it certainly worked today and the crowd were appreciative.
Was the main stage at Barrowland Ballroom Majesty Palm‘s biggest gig yet? It may well have been, and they brought some considerable numbers into the hall at around 6pm. The core Glasgow-based duo Olivia and Cameron fleshed out to a five-piece, they rose to the occasion with a varied and increasingly confident set, deploying some seriously Chic-esque guitar work and synth action. Olivia initially looked a bit nervous but with encouragement from the crowd she did justice to older and newer tracks such as ‘All Dressed Up’, released just the day before…
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