December 24, 2008
I first saw the Levellers live at T in the park festival a mere month after their now legendary performance on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival 1994. I’d been a fan of their music for a fair while beforehand and was never likely to be disappointed but the set, and in particular English Civil War
, is still one of my favourite memories from innumerable festival weekends over the years.
I’ve been at a fair number of Levellers gigs since and although the drink is dearer these days, my knees are never as keen on dancing all night as they were and, tonight, the ABC glitter ball is a poor substitute for the summer festival sun, there is still no fear of disappointment. With many bands who have as large a back catalogue of music as the Levellers there is often the concern whether they’ll play only to promote the new album, will they still keep the old singles & chart hits in the set list and will they play my own personal favourites.
The Levellers are masters at crowd pleasing though — one of the reasons they have the reputation as a great festival band — and they know exactly the balance to strike. The ABC gig leans heavily towards the current new album Letters from the Underground
which many have seen as more in touch with the band’s earlier albums such as Levelling The Land
& showing a drift away from more recent output — this is given proof as A Life Less Ordinary & Cholera Well lead into the manic paced Riverflow
before the encore break. Overall this bias means the band have played an almost non-stop fast & energetic set for this tour, throw in Carry Me
, Far From Home
and a little song called One Way
and they’ve also played my personal favourites. You just can’t get a better gig than that.
A regret? My intention had been to go watch the Levellers gig in Inverness the night before without camera with just the intention, and freedom, to enjoy every moment dancing and bouncing off the barrier in the front row. Maybe next tour I’ll organise both a photo gig and a dancing/drinking gig. I’m looking forward to it already …
[flickr tag=levellers]
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December 8, 2006
The Pierces are two sisters from the deep south living in New York. Catherine, currently engaged to our headliner for tonight (just an aside for you celeb gossip type folks) and Allison have been both been blessed with above average looks, pleasing stage personalities and luckily—most importantly—they can sing.
Opening with a Celtic duet which I’d like to think was rolled out especially for Scotland, The Pierces manage to be very laid back in front of their first Glasgow audience with Catherine taking the lead mostly and Allison seeming just that bit nervy or quieter. Very soon it becomes apparent that the airy pop production on some of their recorded material and the precisely styled image of promo pics & videos isn’t what these lassies are really about. Third track Lights On pumps the live electric bass at me so strongly I forget this is the tune we’d listed as least favourite and too singalong poppy fluff while listening before the show. It’s not just the bass that’s been turned up either, with Catherine using her lungs to full advantage to make sure everyone was sitting up and taking notice. Two songs later and Go To Heaven gives Allison her turn to turn on the vocals and let us know that she’s just as strong as her sister, although the quieter moments of the song are blighted by the ABC 2’s acoustics favouring those idiots holding conversations at the back rather than the stage PA.
The set ranges across a wealth of influences with at one point the hookline of “cross my heart and hope to die” floating over a tune that started out as Celtic, veered into French burlesque cabaret and kept time throughout with gypsy beats. Boring can only properly be described as a tongue-in-cheek Shirley Bassey Bond theme and Sticks and Stones closes their time on stage with a rousing, foot-stomping number that has much of the crowd clapping along.
Of course most of the crowd were there to see Mr. Albert Hammond Jr., normally of The Strokes & scene-cool indie rock legend, and the reaction to the indie-rocking chiming guitar intro reveals that. The set however doesn’t quite suit me: each song the band plays has a great intro and a hook hanging around in it somewhere, but too often they sound overly familiar to me. I spend my time entertaining hopes of this one being a goodie and lifting me onto a gig high, but I’m always dropped back by the end of the first verse. Everything seems alright and I’m sure if they left behind the wavy fingered keyboardist and visited on a drunken weekend night then I’d be cheering on the crazy-eyed rockiness along with the die-hard fans and shouting for a Strokes song with the rest of the crowd. Tonight I’m content to enjoy the insight that sometimes, just sometimes going solo reveals an artist to have left behind an important part of what made them good.
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the pierces — Ryan Woolies @ 12:08 pm
