Tonight was a kind of tartan takeover for want of a better word with three bands with connections North of the border hitting the UK`s second city.
It`s been thirty months since I caught Edinburgh based Daytime TV as special guests to Blue October. They open with a couple of numbers from their `Island` EP released earlier this year with the fairly anxious `So Sick` and blistering `Fear`. There`s a new number shared with the fairly funky `He Said She Said` before sharing a sense of urgency with `Little Victories` from their debut album `Nothing`s On But Everyone`s Watching`. `Zombie` strolls along with a slight edge to it before `Lost In Tokyo` closes out this set and puts me in mind a little of Duran Duran. Daytime TV`s quartet of Will, Gareth, Chris, and John are a superb anthemic pop rock band who have the looks and the musical chops to back it up and having put in the hard work on the road deserve a much bigger audience.
Hailing from Gourock, Inverclyde, SLIX have been making waves since their 2019 debut and have been described as “the sort of guitar band you have secretly been longing for”. This thirty-minute showcase did go a fair way to proving such with songs that touched on adolescence and young adulthood with numbers such as `Current Affairs` about wanting more from a relationship and `Maga` about a trip to Magaluf in Majorca. I`m sure `All Grief, No Sleep` and `Harvey`s Song` were shared from their `Jingle Jangle` EP along with `Blank Canvas`, `Waster` and `Mindless`. The biggest cheer of the night ironically was for their cover of Abba`s `Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)` a number that shouldn’t work but did. Robbie Peden, Harvey Todd, Alan Hunter, Niven Lowrie and Cameron Hyslop are an infectious and energetic indie band who share some dry social commentary, a kind of Scottish Arctic Monkeys.
Motherwell`s The LaFontaines released their fourth album `Business as Usual` in June and are at the tail end of a seven-date soiree to promote said record. I`d caught this alternative rock hip hop trio last year as special guest to Deaf Havana but tonight`s seventy odd minute set was a masterclass in entertainment.
The thumping `Alpha` and reflective `Up` from the `Junior` album lead us in before we head back in time with `Class`. `Under The Storm` has lead vocalist Kerr heading into this intimate audience fist bumping and high fiving all and sundry. There`s a couple of new tracks with `Where They Know My Name` and `Good Life` before `Torture` an introspective song about growing up has the crowd holding lit phones in the air.
`King` had a kind of Fun Lovin` Criminals `King of New York` vibe about it but for me the last couple of tracks `Release the Hounds` and the almost tribal `Asleep` were truly joyous. The trio of Kerr Okan (vocals), Jamie Keenan (drums, vocals) and Darren McCaughey (guitars) returned for a three-song encore with the evolving `Slow Elvis`, title track from the latest release `Business as Usual` before sending us home after `All In`
There`s something about The LaFontaines live with their big guitar riffs and anthemic choruses. They had this intimate audience eating out of their hand with everyone clapping, swaying arms, jumping, and shuffling from left to right. The energy generated tonight could have powered most of the Birmingham grid. It was a mark of this band that both support bands were in the middle of the crowd singing along as well. If Rabbie Burns, the Scottish poet and lyricist was alive today, i`m sure he`d be fronting a band like The LaFontaines. There`s only two shows left in Cardiff and London so you`ll need to get a shift on if you wanna catch one of the gigs of the year.
