Days pass and resemble themselves, especially when Autumn comes out to play after its forced summery hibernation, daylight becomes restricted and the obscurity of the night gradually wins over everything, tonight is no different, although some punters are rushing into an even more opaque venue, it seems that the city is slowly waking up for whoever has decided to party.
It is funny how things sometimes repeat themselves and tonight feels already like a déjà vu, indeed a few years back the boys from Atlanta already stood in front of a Glaswegian audience in the same venue, but that is ancient story, now the band has gathered a lot more experience from their several trips over the pond and tonight they arrive on stage thrilling with excitement.
The first riff is a prophetic one, releasing the adrenaline that must have been piling up backstage, the crowd is bewitched and succumbs to the melodic charms of a seemingly innocent quintet only here to please and make some noise.
Proof of that eagerness to please, second track ‘Shake It Out’ roars inside the entire venue, making those cheap beverages vibrate to the sound of this hypothetical musical earthquake, as if on a mission to raise the dead, the band led by its charismatic bearded frontman, carries on with ‘Pensacola’ sending the crowd into a frantic frenzy.
After this aggressive start, the dust settles for a minute, enough time for Andy Hull to serenade the joyful audience with an acoustic version of ‘The Piña Colada Song’ before failing not to laugh after the end of the chorus.
Even if the gathered spectators seem from time to time pretty stoic, like mystified by those funny looking silhouettes playing on their instruments as if there was no chance of a tomorrow; everything falls into place when ‘I Can’t Barely Breathe’ detonates, the redundant and heavy outro crashes off over and over again on the audience like musical waves, turning the whole place into a pressure cooker ready to explode.
Confident but not obnoxious the band even ask the audience what songs should be played next and from this impossible conversation ‘100 Dollars’, ‘I’ve Got Friends’ and ‘Colly Strings’ are played one after the other.
Profoundly touched by the crowd’s enthusiasm, the band thanks deeply those who came out tonight for knowing every single one of their songs.
When ‘Top Notch’ kicks off, everyone is already conquered and like a cherry on top a musical cake, the night reaches its climax with ‘Where Have You Been?’ making the whole place pulsate to the sounds of the drums.
While all musicians retreat backstage, the lead singer fiercely stays on stating that the show is not over, after a few more songs he will capitulate and exit the stage under approving applause.
It is impossible not to see the humbleness and sincerity oozing from every single piece of this band, from the minute they stepped into the limelight to the second they hop off the stage their main focus was to entertain the crowd no matter how and they did not disappoint.
Words: Jeremy Veyret
Photos: Euan Robertson
