Gig review: Glasvegas

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 18:58

GLASVEGAS **** WE LOVE TO BOOGIE, GLASGOW

"I'M A BIT of a hermit when I'm home in Glasgow," reveals Glasvegas singer James Allan. "But I was out drinking the other night, and I met these people. And I think it's great, you know, when you meet people who love what they do so much."

The duo in question are Natalia Codona and Greg Milne, owners of the small but charming retro store We Love to Boogie in Glasgow's West End, of which Allan is such a fan that he's generously agreed to play an instore gig by way of promotion. Generously, or perhaps foolishly. By the time Allan and his brother Rab take to the stage (such as it is) at 9pm, a queue of Twitter-informed bodies snaking all the way round to Woodlands Road are waiting expectantly and in vain. The small shop is packed, and even friends of the band have to press ears against the glass and crane their necks over security guards' shoulders to hear the uncharacteristically gentle set. The edge of unpleasantness is approached when the external crowd boo the first couple of songs (Geraldine and SAD Light), Allan apparently ignoring requests to "turn it up to eleven".

Yet how could Glasgow stay mad at this band? The rest of the gorgeous six-song set became the crowd's before long. The singalong started with trepidation during Flowers & Football Tops and blew up to the point that Allan hardly needed to open his mouth during Daddy's Gone and the closing cover of Be My Baby.