Live Review

gO:AUdio – Glasgow Garage

• 10th Feb 2008

A queue outside The Garage, the infamous student venue in Glasgow, is a common sight most weekends but rarely at 7pm on a Tuesday evening. Word of mouth and recent media reports appear to have worked well in the favour of gO:AUdio as the hall was almost full to capacity before they took to the stage, a rare feat for an act supporting the support.

gO:AUdio are a pop/techno/rock foursome from London who have been tirelessly touring since last year with the likes of Hellogoodbye and The Secret Handshake. This tour sees them support Welsh rockers The Blackout.

Taking the stage not long after 7 they confidently start their set with “So Quiet You Were” immediately grabbing the lingering crowds attention, until disaster strikes and guitarist Zack Wilkinson falls off the side of the stage! Credit is due as the rest of the band continued with the track, then quickly checking he was being attended to they apologise to the crowd and use their nifty laptop to replace poor Zack for the remainder of the set. The early mishap may have done them a favour in getting the attention of the more hardcore rock fans present, after all gO:AUdio produce a more techno-hybrid brand of rock than the other acts on the bill.

Next on the playlist was forthcoming single “Woodchuck”, an upbeat piece with a catchy guitar riff, followed by “Brake Brake”, the closest these boys do to a ballad, both of which were performed flawlessly. “Take The Floor” was then played before they confirm that Zack has dislocated his knee forcing them to perform the final track “Made Up Stories”, which is surely a future single, with a laptop as their guitarist for the first time ever. Despite this it still managed to be a great end to an all too short set. News the following day suggests they may well have to finish their tour without him to let him recover.

Watching the rest of the concert proves that gO:AUdio can more than hold their own with the acts they are touring with. My American Heart are an average rock band from San Diego, who’s most interesting feature is their diminutive lead singer Larry Soliman who takes to the stage in a shirt collar and jumper brandishing a tambourine. However, their set did have the great highlight of Gavin from The Blackout joining Larry onstage for the track “The Shake”. The Blackout themselves were clearly the stars most of the crowd came to see, and chants of “We are the dynamite” could be heard echoing throughout the building when they took to the stage. However, the professional and polished performance of their first support act confirms that soon the honour of a headline tour will be theirs, and the cheers just for them.