Live Review

Fat White Family – Broadcast, Glasgow

• 21st Feb 2014

Straight outta Sarf London squatland with a trail of scabrous records and a reputation for incendiary live shows, it would be an understatement to say that anticipation for Fat White Family’s first Glasgow show is high. A sold out Broadcast on a Friday night will prove to be the perfect venue to see them in their full glory.

They open with Autoneutron, and the band’s intoxicating, feral garage blues begins to work its magic. Lead singer Lias Saudi immediately takes advantage of the venue’s low ceiling to explore the ventilation shaft while haranguing the crowd. Lias soon has his “tap aff”, to use the Glaswegian vernacular, as do most of the band, but, perhaps mercifully, they keep their trousers on this time round.

By the time they get to Heaven on Earth, the crowd are totally with them, and you feel that if, you may not be witnessing the birth of a new religion, you are seeing the birth of a major band. Gigs of this intensity and honesty don’t come round too often these days. Lias is soon crowdsurfing, delivering his fetid vocals while aloft on the audience.

A clue to the band’s source of inspiration comes when Lias introduces new song “I Am Mark E Smith”. Coming from most singers, this would be a gross overestimation, but here, the comparison fells justified. “Cream of the Young” receives a thunderous reception, then we’re off into “Wet Hot Beef Pts 1 and 2” in all its fetid intensity, though not the more laidback Part 3.

It all ends in exhortations to “Bomb Disneyland”, then they’re off. It’s all been so much that some of the crowd doubt if they’re coming back on, but how could they leave without their new single, the deliciously sleazy “Touch the Leather?”

Ultimately, the real clue to their confrontational, contrarian take on the blues may be Ben Wallers and The Country Teasers, to whom the band are in thrall. To misquote Mr Wallers, British guitar music is real again.

Words by Brian Beadie

Venue: Broadcast, Glasgow
Support Band: none