Hue and Cry, Glasgow review: 'opened a portal to the Eighties'

This 40th anniversary tour date was an opportunity for Pat and Greg Kane to revisit both the hits and the underexposed corners of the Hue and Cry catalogue, writes Fiona Shepherd
Hue And CryHue And Cry
Hue And Cry

Hue and Cry, Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow ★★★

Hue and Cry kicked off their first show at the Glasgow Pavilion since 1987 with soulful saxophone resonating offstage and Pat Kane’s familiar pipes delivering the opening verse of Frank Sinatra's It Was A Very Good Year.

At seventeen, Kane and younger brother Greg would be unknown to most in this audience but as the band assembled and Kane teased the start of verse two, he was quick to remind the audience of “when you were 21” and a portal to the late Eighties was opened for many in the room, a time when Hue and Cry made their greatest impact as a slick suited and booted political pop outfit.

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This 40th anniversary tour date was an opportunity to revisit hits, covers and underexposed corners of the catalogue though Kane Sr noted the “tumbleweed” when he namechecked their 2008 album Open Soul. Instead, some fans were on their feet for Ordinary Angel, while another was quick to heckle that, shall we say, those of a right-wing persuasion might not be welcome in this feisty space.

The sound mix was not particularly kind, loud and boomy on I Refuse, with Kane braying in the club singer style and bouncing on his toes like a boxer ready for his bout.

A requests interlude featuring just the brothers yielded a lusty singalong to Michael Marra’s Mother Glasgow and gentler renditions of Kate Bush’s The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Elvis Costello’s Shipbuilding.

Tina Turner was briefly invoked for her onetime interest in snaffling most of the rights to Violently. The brothers politely declined and the song remains theirs to croon.

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Their top flight band, including saxophonist Paul Towndrow, trumpeter Tom MacNiven and drummer Alyn Cosker were in jazzy flow on Little Man and punchy effect on the Shaft-inspired brass of their first and best hit Labour of Love.

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