Live Review

Tiger Please – King Tut’s, Glasgow

• 23rd Jun 2010

The extravagantly named Little Yellow Ukuleles kicked off the evening with an energetic and fast paced set. The young Glasgow band played some fairly standard Indie fare, but with a harder edge to their final song. Some nice guitar work was on show although the vocals were weak compared to the powerful instrumental work. Their set was well received and they hope to have an EP coming out shortly.

Tiger Please started their set with Summer In The House Of Confessions from the new EP, Seasons. From the moment the guitars kicked in, just as lead singer Leon Stanford belatedly joined the rest of the band on stage, they entertained an enthusiastic crowd in fine style with their well crafted rock sound.

The Welsh rockers arrived in Glasgow as part of a UK tour which included a set at the recent Download Festival that attracted some fine reviews. And judging from many of the accents in a very young crowd they appeared to have brought a fair few fans from home along with them.

Stanford has a powerful, deep voice, with the kind of gravelly tone that is ideally suited to rock music. The combination of crunching power chords and subtle hooks provided by Luc Morris and Tyla Campbell gives a sound that combines melody and volume to good effect. And the beat supplied by Jimmi Kendall on bass and Lewis Rowsell on drums was strong and true all night long.

A highlight of the short set was There’s No Hero in Heroin, a slightly slower number with an obvious anti drugs message. But it came to a fine conclusion with a sonic storm of guitars being whipped up.

The band also played a very good new track, which they hope will feature on a future debut album; a song brimming with raw emotion telling of losing a child.

Tiger Please finished with Light and Sound, a contrasting upbeat offering about the birth of a child. The audience clapped along enthusiastically during the middle eight before a burst of high energy guitars and a final vocal flourish brought a quality show to a conclusion.

This was an excellent set from a band that has good stage presence and a growing catalogue of excellent songs. Tiger Please are building a solid reputation as a live act and this set confirms their undoubted promise.

Will Tiger Please be the next big Welsh rock band? Very possibly.