George Glen

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Having been impressed with these guys supporting Jim Jones Revue it seemed only polite to give them a more thorough check out. Sneaky Pete’s should have been an ideal venue for their aggressive, psychotic, claustrophobic rockabilly attitude and music …. Hmmmm!

Unfortunately that violent undercurrent spread to some of their fans whose over the top moshing made standing near the front an invitation to a punch-up, which luckily never materialised.

Musically and visually the Snakeheads make a big, and good impression. Front man Dale Barclay is magnetic and compelling, creating that brooding menace with his words, movements and guitar stabs. The music is simple but effective, tight but sparse. All good stuff and a few of the songs have memorable hooks. The whole set though was a bit light on variety so the songs blur … Given some time their set will get stronger.

I’d probably go to see them again and I expect the current buzz about them to put them in bigger, hopefully safer environments ;o)

7/11 Attended by George, Karen, Jan, Mhairi, Andy, Douglas

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-amazing-snakeheads/2014/voodoo-belfast-northern-ireland-2bc3247e.html

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I missed seeing Anaïs the last two times in Edinburgh and was determined to catch this one and was so glad! I’ve been a fan since I first heard my  ‘album of 2012’ folk opera ‘Hadestown’. This time she was on her own and that’s my favourite way of seeing artists who sometimes have bands and sometimes not.

Her tartan skirt was specially for us and she creates a great atmosphere with wonderful storytelling songs. A very special, intimate concert culminating with encore audience singalong of ‘Goodnight Irene’.

9/11 Attended by George & Karen

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I loved seeing St Vincent in Glasgow last time, and with no Scottish date announced I took the plunge and splashed out on a trip to Manchester. So glad I did! Annie Clark is one special artist. The new album ‘St. Vincent’ is an evolution from ‘Strange Mercy’ and her approach to the show was much more polished and ‘choreographed’ than last time.

Great songs, great singing, great guitaring joined with some new great moves kept us anticipating every musical and theatrical twist and turn. A magnificent setting too in such an impressive building, but the sound quality was a very disappointing, mainly Annie’s guitar which was not clear and often not loud enough! At least 1 mark off for bad sound.

A great show though and I liked this a lot, but I actually preferred the more raw, sweaty performance in Glasgow 2011 with storming guitar, crowd going wild and Annie crowdsurfing!  And by the way … Just the week before this gig, a Glasgow date was announced on a later part of the tour in May. Sod’s law! So I’ll go to both then!

8/11  – attended by George . Video … I was standing just to the right !

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The 3rd time we had seen TSDBTB at Electric Circus … And the best! 2 sets including many of Bowie’s best songs. I really enjoyed them but Jan and Karen had a sensational time, singing their hearts out! These guys really have perfected the sound and the songs … Spot on.

7/11 – Attended by George, Karen & Jan

Video – not from this gig –

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Just needed to get out to some gigs so thought Lily & Madeleine would be nice in a ‘First Aid Kitty’ kind of way … And they were pleasant if uninspiring.

6/11 – Attended by George.  Video not from this show, but a couple of days later … just the same!

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3 bands, live body painting and the most unusual band (in a good way) I’ve seen in ages … all for 6 quid! What a night. Sod Firhill, it’s Sneaky Pete’s for thrills!

The Red Paintings theme for the night was Eqyptian and they certainly went to town with that look. Still not sure how they all fitted on the tiny stage with such a huge drum kit, but that didn’t stop them putting on a great performance with a load of really good songs. Trash McSweeney is a magnetic front man and though the audience was small that didn’t deter him from giving it laldy! Not to be missed when they come back this way.

8/11 Attended by George & Andy

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PSB are J. Willgoose, Esq. on guitars, keyboards and electronics … and Wrigglesworth on Drums.  They mashup clips and samples from old public information films and archive footage over live instruments, samples and drums to create an original audio visual musical extravaganza.  Very clever though hard to describe (see videos below) but they are building a loyal following in Edinburgh and I enjoyed their set even though it’s not really my cup of tea!

6/11 Attended by George, Andy et al

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Though I’m not really a big fan I though it was too good a chance to miss to see the legendary pioneers of electronic music while in Iceland for Karen’s birthday.

I’m glad we saw them and it was quite a show with vast computerised 3D animations behind them … but I was much more impressed with the whole Harpa Concert Hall complex which is a miracle of architecture and lighting!

6/11 Attended by George, Karen