Weddings, Funerals and reformed band gigs all have a number of things in common. The anxiety of what to wear, will Aunty Joan turn up in the same AC/DC fly on the wall tour shirt? Are they in it for the money, why did Aunty Joan marry successful 90 year old local butcher Mr Collins the month after they met? And most importantly will it be a good night out? Aunty Joan likes Bingo!
GUN had me excited but worried, a favorite band of mine, whom Apple are currently advising me that 3 tracks of Swagger are in my top most played tracks listing. According to the law of foggy memory a faded ex-girlfriend is best remembered as part of your heroically romantic misspent youth and not someone you suggest joins you and your wife for a curry in Shoreditch on a Wednesday.
My point is, that like my rambling, sometimes it’s worth squeezing into the tour shirt and making the effort. The truth is that on this drab Tuesday night in a venue that has more viewing restrictions than the East Stand at Southend Utd GUN were magnificent.
I had been lucky enough to hear the new album ahead of release and wondered how it would sit with their crowd pleasing back catalogue, again fears allayed it was epic, clearly the crowd were long time fans and played their part to the max, from the first spiritual refrain of new track Let it Shine and on to the obligatory Word Up they were so well versed it was almost Wagnerian.
'One wrong turn', Title track 'Frantic' and recent single' Labour of Life' all played brilliantly within a hit laden set that ran the best part of 2 hours without a moments respite. There was no band political rhetoric just a celebration of what they do best by rocking your world apart with glorious anthems.
A band this good deserve to return to the heights of yesterday and the new album supports that. This is a band that has played alongside the Stones, Bon Jovi, SimpleMinds and more and, their effervescent performance throughout was wonderful to experience. This is a short tour and I think that anyone getting the chance to see them close it out in hometown Glasgow at Barrowlands is going to die rock happy.
Let's hope this is the second coming for a band that is one of Scotland's lost treasures that needs to be saved for the nation.
Iain
@docswallow
Set list:
Let It Shine
Don’t say it’s Over
Better Days
One Wrong Turn
Something To Believe In
Money
Hold Your Head Up
Real World
Higher Ground
Frantic
Taking On The World
Inside Out
Word Up
Steal Your Fire
Encore:
Labour Of Life
Shame