Gig review: The Mavericks, Glasgow

The Mavericks are the wedding band of your dreams – slick, professional, schooled in many musical styles with a broad appeal and the rich rhythms to get folks on the dancefloor and keep them there.

The Mavericks are slick and professional, producing an unashamedly nostalgic sound. Picture: Getty

The Mavericks - Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

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Only a burst pipe in a Manchester venue can stop them, but there was no messing on this default opening date of their European tour. After trooping on stage to Average White Band’s Pick Up The Pieces, they launched straight into their best known number, Dance The Night Away, reversing the usual order of proceedings, with the audience on their feet and dancing in the aisles from the off.

As frontman Raul Malo explained, he is celebrating his 50th year by doing whatever he feels like, including recording the band’s new album in mono. That album, helpfully entitled Mono, fed much of the set, encompassing the swinging Stories We Could Tell, rhythm’n’blues swagger of Do You Want Me To, soul smooch Without You and bouncy ska rhythms of What You Do. It’s an unashamedly nostalgic sound, harking back to crooner pop and Latin-flavoured rock’n’roll from the 50s and 60s.

Malo is a persuasive balladeer, accessing his inner Roy Orbison for the slow dance section, including I Should Have Been True and a lovely solo rendition of Mona Lisa, while the band were are their most torrid on the sassy swagger of Every Little Thing About You.

The remainder of the set, taking in the bland country rock likes of What A Crying Shame, felt more perfunctory.

Seen on 28.02.15