Live Review

Punto The Feef – O2 ABC, Glasgow

• 18th Jun 2011

Three young Scottish bands put on an excellent show in Glasgow last night. With a decent crowd attracted to the ABC, the atmosphere was a good one and the crowd was well entertained throughout.

King Chaos and the Prism Skies were playing their very first gig. A new group comprising members of several local bands, they have a big sound with three guitars in the mix, as well as a keyboard. But their deep voiced lead singer had the power to rise above the backing. With an insistent drumbeat throughout their potent mix of funk, blues and rock was always dynamic, although the many false endings to songs were perhaps a little overdone. A fine debut though from a band to watch.

Have Mercy Las Vegas from Dunbartonshire brought their up tempo, blues tinged folk to the show and played an excellent set. Their lead singer has a warm voice with a good range and with instrumentation including piano, ukulele, harmonica and accordion at various times they have a nicely varied sound. Snakes and Horses was excellently delivered as was the storming version of Galway Girl that closed their set.

Punto The Feef are young and perhaps still a little raw, but undoubtedly talented. Their stock as a live band is rising and they came to this show after playing Glasgow’s West End Festival and the Eden Festival to put in another great performance.

Their sound is based around the traditional two guitars, bass and drums line up, although they incorporate elements of blues and psychedelia into their music to give a modern take on sixties sounding rock music. The band has a solid rhythm section and an excellent lead guitarist who, unusually, seems to prefer to stay out of the spotlight. That can’t be said for dynamic guitarist and lead singer Ian Smith, who is the focus of the band as he darts around the stage.

There were several big rockers in the set, with power chords aplenty and some lovely interplay between the two guitars. The occasional use of distortion on the lead vocal added to the atmospheric feel on a couple of tracks, contrasting with the usual clean sound.

Punto have released two EPs so far and are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album, which will be called This Cat’s Recurring Nightmare. The band were joined by Louise Quinn on vocals for the excellent title track which has a lovely sixties feel to it.

The set ended with Drop Poison, another track which will be on the album. This is a bluesy rock song that slowed in the middle before the pace was picked up again for a fine finale. The audience demanded an encore and the night finished with Over The River, an excellent slower blues track.

Three hours of music from good young local bands made this a fine Friday night of music. There is a great deal of talent out there, looking for a step up in the ultra competitive music business. And playing excellent live shows is still a good way to get noticed.