Live Review

Glasvegas – Liverpool Barfly

• 10th Jun 2008

You really set your stall high when you look as good as Glasvegas. You have to have some substance, because to pull off a look halfway beween the Velvet Underground and the Jesus and Mary Chain whilst simultaneously being cool enough to look like half the cast of Rumblefish means that there has to be some weight behind that image.

Possibly the best band out of Scotland since Teenage Fanclub they have a knack of The Fanclubs harmony that seems to run by the barrel load down the Clyde. But where they differ is in the subject matter. James Allan’s topics ranges between tragedy and poignancy and in that Glaswegian accent it sounds all that more affecting.

As for the rest of the band well I’m sure the shoegaze comparisons are not short but they have an unnervingly acute ear for gauging where the sound should be big or small, Caroline Mckay’s percussion sounding like a young Mo Tucker.

“Its my own cheating heart” is astonishing, shimmering like a Phil Spector composition and illustraing how Glasvegas owe as much to Motown as they do to Creation .“Go Square Go” is a formidable and spectral beast which harkens back to the early 90s indie of yore.

But tonight the highlight and hair raising moment is last years single of the year “Daddys Gone” which has somehow grown in size. A lament tragic enough to make the hardiest cry, this song about an absentee father is as beautiful as it is unique in its subject matter.

On this evenings evidence it may not be long before Glasvegas are sitting with the big hitters , but at the moment catch them while you can before they leave these intimate venues for ever.

Cool Enough? Oh god yeah.