Live Review

Arrows Of Love – King Tut’s, Glasgow

• 29th Jul 2012

Arrows Of Love played a blistering short set of high quality music to a disappointingly small crowd in Glasgow. The Londoners were ably supported by two fine local bands, and it is just a pity that more of their fans did not stay on to see a superb high energy performance from the headliners.

UrbanMyth got things moving with a very good set. The young band has a melodic pop rock sound based around the excellent lead vocals of Kariss Andrew. Her powerful delivery and great stage presence was matched by the musical skills of the other band members and the crowd responded well. Virtual Reality and the closing Stand Your Ground, both from a recently released EP, were the highlights of an entertaining display from a band who show tremendous promise for the future.

Another young Glasgow group, Evolution, were next on stage. Their two guitar, classic rock approach was fresh and appealing, and singer Stewart Carroll led the band well. Act Like A Lady featured a fine guitar solo and Carroll demonstrated his even voice and extensive vocal range throughout a good set that included one slower number. Digital World was also well delivered as the two guitars played off each other nicely.

Arrows Of Love opened with the new single Honey. Using three guitars, bass and drums gives the band a massive sound, yet every instrument could be heard clearly. The manic energy of the performance was noticeable from the start as their indie meets punk music was blasted out from the stage. The male – female vocal pairing worked well all night, lead singer Nima ably backed by the softer vocals from Lyndsey to create a fine contrasting effect.

Song One was next, equally fast and equally thrilling. Ollie on lead guitar added some electric licks while drummer Mike set a frenetic pace, ably backed by Nuha on bass. Nima dropped his guitar for Prescriptions, before wandering off stage to sing from within the audience, wrapping his mic lead around a couple of rather astonished looking fans. It was great theatre, and the rest of the band played on superbly.

Knife brought the pace down for a short time, offering a respite from the wall of sound. The steady drum beat set a menacing atmosphere to back the dark vocals from Nima. Then Lyndsey took over, the ominous tone continuing, before the almost inevitable explosion as the song ended with a high energy burst of rock. The change of pace was sudden and dramatic, and worked perfectly.

Then it was back to the punk approach with a high tempo as fine musicianship and those great vocals taking us through Trust and Conspiracy. Much too soon the final song was announced and a great guitar riff opened Pretend Friends. There had to be a big ending to such a dramatic set and Ollie provided it, heading into the crowd before dragging his guitar along the floor as the rest of the band left the stage to a howl of feedback.

Arrows Of Love sound good on record but the sheer intensity of their live performance takes their music to another level. With only a small crowd in attendance some would have been tempted merely to go through the motions, but not this band. Every one of them gave their all, providing a tremendous spectacle for the lucky few who were there to witness it.

I hope Arrows Of Love make it back up to Glasgow. They are a band who put everything into their live performance, and I’m sure that they would have something even more special to show with a larger crowd to play off.