Before we start on this, a few observations….
Why oh why were there two Glasgow city multi-venue festivals on the same day? Hosted by two different promoters… Were they both well-attended, yes maybe, so maybe there was an audience for both, but it still seemed wrong as many punters may have wanted to attend both, and in terms of press coverage for the artists, pints sold etc, well BM leaves you the reader to decide what was going on here. PCL, 423, knock your heads together, or something…
BM had a look at the archives and realised she had apparently not attended Stag and Dagger since the 2016 edition, so there were events in 17/18/19 and then 2020’s, postponed several times until now – the lack of attendance may have been due to the disappointing lineups, plus other factors, but even this year’s lineup did not look like an essential event, although 63 acts over 8 or more venues, all close to Sauchiehall St, did look attractive, hence the ticket originally being purchased. The other odd thing about S&D is that there is very little corporate identity other than it being promoted by PCL, so there’s little in the way of obvious curation or selection… Having said that, the event did produce a relatively mixed bill (gender-balance better than some) of local and national acts, although pretty much nothing from further afield (S&D doesn’t have too much history with Euro or US acts and BM fears this will be even less likely in future…).
Also it’s tragic to have no ABC1 or Art School as venues, making the Garage the biggest capacity in use, although there were loads of smaller ones including some not previously involved…
It was a sunny Saturday and with Sauchiehall St’s interesting (and some pretty much derelict) buildings shining in the afternoon haze (and the recently installed trees and cycle-lane in evidence also), Glasgow’s punters began to gather, some with a post-COP26 hangover… at Broadcast, the only venue open before 4pm. It was of course time for the first drink, which seemed decadent but that’s the beauty of festivals in general, the timetable justifies an afternoon drink or two…
So first on at Broadcast (with some punters a bit confused by its new basement back to front set-up) was Glasgow’s Jack Brotherhood, who apparently played back in 2019 – the four-piece played 4 or 5 songs, catchy and a bit skewed, maybe some We Were Promised Jetpacks influences maybe, and one song dedicated to “landlords”, which certainly got the crowd animated, and even as early as 2pm, there was a bit of a crowd. Ones to watch – they don’t take themselves too seriously and have some good tunes…
Next up at Broadcast was London-based band Famous, a three-piece who defied categorisation, the drums and bass conjuring up quite complex soundscapes while the singer prowled the stage, starting with some quite Lou Reed-esque vocals, then moving onto some demented rantings which would do Nick Cave proud, although again he didn’t seem too serious and after banging his head on the notorious new “beam” above the stage, made quite the comic gesture of it. BM did think this act did have some unique DNA, not sure quite how they will harness it, but well worth checking out, and again the crowd loved it…
BM stuck around at Broadcast for West Lothian goths Gravelle (ok so that’s a slightly unfair pigeonhole) – BM has seen them several times before and is a big fan – today their performance was lifted to new heights by better stage presence, better sound and better songs. Channelling something like Crystal Castles meets Sisters of Mercy, this male/female duo blasted out their skewered electronica with gusto, with lacerating guitars and pumping sequencers – the best performance of theirs that BM has witnessed and so good to see them back in action after such a long break…
After 4pm the choices started to wider, so BM headed for Book Klub at Nice N Sleazy, which was a disappointment… Maybe it wasn’t his fault (monitors, sound system etc) but the singer sounded flat (BM may not have a lot of great attributes but a good sense of pitch is one) – bordering on offensively flat, and BM had to get out fast – the music also sounded boring, sorry guys but have to be honest here…
Glasgow artist Sulka played at the Garage Attic – the audience here was a bit sparse, possibly due to the lack of a bar (BM called them out on this and they promised everyone a pint later, erm right!) – the recent Sulka album is great and the 4 (or maybe 5) piece band, getting a bit hazy now, gave a good rendition of some of these tracks, and BM hopes to see a full live show soonish – really rate this lot…
BM went back along the street to see Dutch Wine in the Mango Tropical (a restaurant midway along the Sauch St strip with an upstairs bar, not much of a stage but just enough) – sounded pretty good, BM has reviewed their music before and they drew a goodish crowd, but old loyalties meant, after a couple of their (very thrashy, very good) songs a trip to The Blue Arrow (good to see it back in business, a great basement venue) to see Carla J Easton.
Carla appeared tonight with her accomplice Paul Kelly on guitar and Gus (keys), Harry (bass) and Callum (drums) and gave us a blasting set of new and old songs. The joint (and it is a joint!) was pretty full and Carla was in very fine voice, and just so great to see her back in front of an audience again… really heartwarming….
A further trip was made back to the Garage to satisfy BM’s curiosity about Working Men’s Club, to find the main venue completely rammed – where did all these people come from? Apart from being pinned to the back of the venue it sounded pretty good, although the New Order and Factory Floor influences seem pretty obvious – nothing wrong with that mind…
BM then hot-footed it back up the stairs to Garage Attic, where Franky’s Evil Party were in full flow – they are completely mental, shades of The Cramps and maybe Birthday Party but it’s certainly intense – BM also hopes they can nail that live sound in a decent recorded release at some point but they are compelling to watch live…
The next date was back in the Blue Arrow with Fiskur, who performed solo on this occasion and didn’t get the audience he deserved. There were a couple of new tracks but it’s a shame his talent was a bit overlooked on this occasion.
Last essential band of the evening for BM (after a certain point the curiosity wears out and after so long it was just good to see old favourites as well) was Glasgow’s Lemon Drink.
It’s ironic because this was the last gig BM went to before lockdown, and can clearly remember joking with LNFG people about “hoarding toilet rolls” etc – how far have we come? Anyway, the Drink (as probably no-one actually calls them) launched into their set with gusto, and those female harmonies, guitar riffs and choruses, again in the rather nice setting of the Mango Tropical, were just the thing at this point in the evening. Credit due to the three girls and one guy involved, this was quite a performance and again the best thing about it was to see them enjoying the banter (so it’s a cliche) and interaction with the punters, some familiar with them and some not.
As the evening wore on, and some acquaintances were bumped into and chat was had, BM began to lose interest in the rest of the music. She was never going to last until The Kundalini Genie at 1.30am, and would have liked to check out Cheep Teeth as well, also missed Girl Band (who have apparently changed their name, what happened to them last weekend?) who BM was told on good authority were a must-see, but after being in action since 2pm, exiting for the bus home at around 10.30pm was a pretty good innings and no one could have seen everything….
So Stag and Dagger – some initial doubts but the sheer variety of music available and the spectacle of so many bands playing their first gig in god knows how long made this a great day, and BM might be tempted to give it another go in 2022, if the promoters put down their handbags and see a bit of business sense….