All the way from Australia, The Smith Street Band waste no time in delivering their brand of punk rock to an eager Glasgow crowd, showing no signs of jet-lag as they start the first leg of their European tour and clearly look delighted at the prospect of touring with their friends.
The Classic Grand has drawn healthy crowd who’re treated to songs that embody punk rock spirit, but also seem quite unpredictable in structure, it’s inventive in how the band switch between melodic fast passages, dotted with slow down tempo sections and nice angular guitar work.
‘Young Drunk’ is perhaps the song that resonates most with the sentiment of this kind of punk rock, especially on tour with a band like The Menzingers, a sing-a-long chorus, awith verses littered with anecdotes from a suburbia that could be any suburbia, all forlorn and fleeting sentiments from a band that knows this number does the trick.
The overall sound however lets them down, which is a shame, the main vocal is buried and the guitars sound dull to the point where you can’t pick them out.
The title single from last years Don’t Fuck With Our Dreams comes towards the end, and noticeably in the middle eight the crowd really warms itself to this band’s honest delivery, that not only comes across in the quick-fire adages in the lyrics, but in the complimenting music that quietens and bursts to the songs building climax.
They’ll have better shows than this, with better sound for certain, but all things accounted for they successfully show us what they’re all about.
When The Menzingers come out and ring the opening chords from ‘I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore’ there’s smiles all around, the headliners making an entrance with their opening song to this years Rented World, a call to arms reflection on the self that rings loud and defiant.
The band then rip through the opening two songs to Chamberlain Waits, and it’s clear to see that although this tour that follows the new release The Menzingers know what the fans love to hear, indeed, after a jubilant old fan favourite, ‘Irish Goodbyes’, the North American’s hammer out with force the opening five numbers to the acclaimed and much loved On The Impossible Past.
The crowd’s now something more akin to the type of audience that you’d expect at a gig such as this; singing-a-long, crowd surfing erupting sporadically down the front and when the foursome kick into ‘Good Things’ it’s hard to see them failing at all.
‘Gates’ carries all the sincerity behind the romanticism that this band is known around the world for and there’s no issues with the sound here, it’s all turned up well and level, the rhythm section right at the heart of things, the bass keeping everything tied together.
The two singers go at it in turns to scream their hearts out with the energy in the performance never lacking, ‘Casey’ goes down a storm before the band all too knowingly exit quickly after ‘My Friend Kyle’.
Some drift out of the room as the lights stay down and as the majority fully expect to be hearing the volume go up again for at least two more numbers, for a band to come back out and play three songs from their newest album, granted one of them a roaring rendition of single ‘In Remission’, is not a very common thing, usually bands leave dead cert oldies to finish the night strongly, but with a loyal following wherever they go The Menzingers can really do whatever they wish.
Words: Matthew Thomas
Photos: Neil Jarvie
