Gig review: Macy Gray, Glasgow

MACY Gray has had her musical ups and downs over the past 15 years but, with Mark Ronson blasting uptown funk across the charts, now is as good a time as any to give the world a taste of her modern soul revue with a touch of old school glamour and a deal of Macy mischief, including a shaggy dog story about how she Googled Glasgow and decided this was the place to be on a Sunday night.

Macy Gray: the kind of Sunday night show that hadnt been to bed for the whole weekend. Picture: Getty

Macy Gray - ABC, Glasgow

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She had one thing bang on: “the more you drink the better we sound”. This was a Sunday night show which hadn’t been to bed all weekend. The will to party was still there but proceedings were starting to wind down and get a little messy as Gray’s hip band settled into a low-slung groove and let their spaced hostess regale the guests in her distinctive raspy tone.

Her performance was more about feel than fireworks, with some springy funk from her latest album and the simple R&B call and response of So Glad You’re Here followed by a lengthy non-funky drum solo. The lax song strike rate was rectified by the more substantial retro soul jazz of Relating To A Psychopath and the peppy Sexual Revolution but Gray left most of the singing on her biggest hit I Try to the audience, saving herself for a respectable run at Radiohead’s Creep and a slightly batty finale of Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?

Seen on 08.02.15