Three rather indescribable bands tonight. Which is admittedly not the most promising thought to hit on when starting to write a review, but how else to cover electro-karaoke, candy fags and crowd-surfing silver capes?!
Dirty Pirate start us off tonight as the most unpromising looking act ever. Two guys, one microphone and minimal mixing kit sitting on an old beer crate. They sound like a wedding cabaret DJ from the arse end of disco era 70s, but then your ear realises there’s some genius in there, somewhere. It’s not there all the time but as the hook lyrics of All Yr Secrets morph seamlessly and wonderfully into Abba and back again, I’m regretting my cynical non-attention earlier in the set. This final song of epic Electro-Karaoke greatness is even enough to overcome my foul “I was stood up, grrr” mood and I whoop in appreciation far more loudly than any sober person should for such nonsense.
Scunner I love, let’s get that out of the way now—I was never going to not enjoy this set from them. Strangely though, it’s the largest stage I’ve ever seen them perform on and it almost threatens to confine frontman Paul Puppet for the first couple of songs. Or maybe it’s just spilling his pint that keeps him less exuberantly extrovert than usual. Don’t get me wrong, though, as far as vocalist performers go he hardly misses a note and never misses a trick, so by the end we have a feather duster & cigarette sweets thrown into the audience and an umbrella trashed on stage. That may sound like a bizarre take on the “TV out window” or drumkit levelling stereotypical Rock antics and that’s exactly what Scunner are: a bizarre take on themselves. The drumming is beautifully unadorned and almost Violent Femme-esque, and, depending on song the guitar or keyboard carries the melodies just as simply and just as perfectly—I warned you I loved these guys didn’t I? But I’m back to that “indescribable” label now though, so let’s invent a Muppet-Punk genre for Scunner to live in all on their own, the live sound more raw than recorded tracks currently available.
They’ve disappointed me on one thing tonight; they never played my favourite track Drip Static. For a band at this level to play a half hour set with never a dud moment and still have good songs in reserve is a rare thing indeed—is it bad etiquette to call for an encore before the headliners appear?
Even before they reach the stage Robots in Disguise have the crowd going wild for them and by the time they march on stage with whistles blowing and capes flying it’s obvious they have some serious fans here tonight. But I’m a first timer they’re starting from scratch with, and to be honest, the music is all good and fine with DJ’s Got A Gun being a stand out brilliant electro-pop track but much of the hysteria seems artificially created to me. Half the set is spent with the band, or the mic stands, or stage equipment in the audience, and the crowd do absolutely love it but I’m too remote even just at the side of the stage to appreciate the fenzy. I want so much to love RiD for their act & performance but I’m left simply liking and enjoying the full on energy they bring to the set—I know it will be a long time before I see another band crowd surf and then sing from upon shoulders of an audience member at the Glasgow barfly!
I failed to love Robots in Disguise, I only liked and enjoyed them, tonight that put me firmly in the minority.
