Tonight is a pretty big milestone for a band who haven’t had their faces plastered on gig posters or in magazines. This sold out show at Glasgow’s legendary King Tut’s (in fact, this headline tour as a whole) shows that the countless support slots and festival appearances the band have taken on over the years have well and truly paid off.
Speaking of which, their second ever support slot was opening for Flood of Red, so it’s nice to see the tables have turned and now the Glasgow band are headlining over long time peers.
Flood soar through their opening set which features classics such as ‘A Place Before The End’, ‘Oh Yes, There Will Be Blood’ and ‘Home, Run (1997)’ which is jokingly ambushed by the headline band. Finishing with the drum heavy ‘Little Lovers’, the band close their set, having readied up the audience for the arrival of the Xcerts.
Eventually, front man Murray Macleod takes to the stage alone, opening the set with an intimate solo version of ‘Home vs. Home’ and is immediately blown away by the crowd’s reception as they sing back every word. As Jordan and Tom join him onstage, the trio belt into two more ‘ITCWWS’ classics, ‘Do You Feel Safe?’ and ‘I See Things Differently’, getting the crowd warmed up for the rest of the set which is heavier with tracks from second record ‘Scatterbrain’.
Despite his throat infection, causing him to cancel two shows on the tour, Murray and co show no signs of weakness, the whole set is tight but also great to watch, showing the band to be not only incredibly hard working, but to also have a great sense of humility and ineffable passion, never taking things too seriously.
Singles ‘Slackerpop’ and ‘Young (Belane)’ are recognised instantly and that’s when the crowd truly come to life before Flood of Red return the favour by ambushing ‘Crisis In The Slow Lane’. A sincere and humbled Murray (whose voice is still with him but only just) takes a moment to give thanks to the crowd for their support and everyone involved in helping the band to where they are today before closing the set just as he started, delivering a heartfelt performance of crowd favourite ‘Aberdeen 1987’, a belter of a sing-a-long tune, if there ever was one.
This should have been more than enough, but no. Glasgow wanted more and the Xcerts kindly obliged, returning to the stage for two more songs, a brand new infectious pop track ‘Sinking In The Water’, which the crowd go mental for, despite only hearing it for the first time, and early track ‘Cool Ethan’, making for a perfect blend of new and old.
Forget the hype, this is the way rock should be and it’s only a matter of time before this trio are selling out academies across the country.