Gig review: Tijuana Bibles, Glasgow

THESE new young Glasgow alt-rock gunslingers put more energy into thanking the crowd than they did playing songs in the end, but there was a good reason for that.

Tijuana Bible. Picture: Facebook

Tijuana Bibles – King Tut’s, Glasgow

***

Such a decent turn-out on a bleak Sunday night in January would have been compliment enough under normal circumstances. But it spoke volumes as to the fierce loyalty Tijuana Bibles already motivate, and the simple dedication of Glasgow music fans, that most people stuck around even after it was announced at 10:40pm that the PA had blown – in a rare King Tut’s technical meltdown – and that the band wouldn’t be on for about another hour, if at all.

When it eventually happened, the four-piece’s by-necessity abridged set (singer Tony Costello announced that a re-staging will happen at the same venue in February) couldn’t be faulted for sheer battling, backs-to-the-wall urgency.

Tijuana Bibles’ brand of swaggering, bluesy rock music is one you don’t too often hear these days – certainly not on the Scottish scene. Arguably that’s because it’s all been done before and then some – much as James Brannigan’s wailing guitar riffs and Behn Cross’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club-style distorted bass lines on the pelting Runnin’ Red Fruit felt fresh and powerful. But then, you could just as easily argue such back-to-basics a style is overdue a revival, especially done with as much fierceness as it was here.

By the time a frantic Wild River closed, a mini mosh-pit had erupted in the crowd, and a feeling of vindication for the band’s tenacity and the crowd’s patience reigned.

It was all over in about 20 minutes, but if nothing else, proved a wholly compelling case to give the rerun next month a good look.