Live Review

Guillemots – Classic Grand, Glasgow

• 22nd Apr 2011

Fyfe Dangerfield and co played the last of four April secret shows last night. Fans had eagerly bought tickets last month but were only officially told on the day where in Glasgow the show would take place – although word had leaked out beforehand.

Arriving at the Classic Grand it was obvious that this was a sell out. Glo-sticks were handed to everyone as they came in, which left fans debating exactly what was to come. As I entered the room I noticed tow things immediately.

The first was a strong smell of burning herbs. That’s the legal kind of herbs of course, which certainly made for an interesting atmosphere. The second was that there was no barrier in front of the small stage, meaning that the crowd were so close to the band that they could quite literally touch them if they wanted to. An intimate show then.

The band walked onto the stage to a tremendous reception. There was little chat, just some excellent music and the appreciative crowd sang along, swaying in time to the beat.

The majority of the set came from new release Walk The River, starting with the excellent Tigers, featuring Dangerfield at the keyboards and some fine slide guitar work from Brazilian guitarist MC Lord Magrão.

Vermillion saw the singer pick up a guitar for an excellent atmospheric track that built to something of a crescendo while I Don’t Feel Amazing Now featured a slower and more passionate vocal delivery complemented well by Aristazabal Hawkes on the double bass and backing vocals.

Current single The Basket, introduced as a depressing song, saw a strong vocal over swirling keyboards as the track rose and fall, sounding far more defined and less chaotic than the released version.

Too soon the set reached its conclusion as Dangerfield slowed things down with a solo acoustic version of We’re Here from the band’s debut album Through The Windowpane, before the other members of the band rejoined him for a rocking version of Slow Trains with Greig Stewart’s drums setting a strong beat.

Almost immediately the band came back out for an encore, with both Walking In The Devil’s Shoes and Yesterday is Deal played hard and fast, the energy somehow picking up in response to the insistent beat. And that appeared to be the end of the night – but there was one further treat to come.

Dangerfield reappeared with his acoustic guitar for one more song. After an extended conversation with the audience, who all clamoured for their particular choice, he finally settled on what to play. And so the final track was a quite beautiful rendition of old favourite Annie, Let’s Not Wait with the crowd waving their glo-sticks and singing along.

There is something of a fragile beauty to Guillemot’s music, with the darkness never too for away. The drama behind the lyrics comes through clearly in the live performance and the standard of musicianship is consistently high. When it all comes together the result is a fine gig that the band’s fans thoroughly enjoyed.