Gig review: Jedward - Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

IF JOHN and Edward Grimes’ short but divisive stint on the The X Factor and their subsequent public appearances on Eurovision and Celebrity Big Brother have confirmed anything beyond the impression that these boys are on a different planet, it is that Jedward make for an entertaining sight (sound, of course, is a different matter).

Within minutes of scampering onstage at a Concert Hall which didn’t know what had hit it, the twins had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into their hyper dance routines and, in the case of John – or was it Edward? – into the crowd. For the next 90 minutes, they only stood still to strike a pose.

While their energy cannot be faulted, they appeared to have blown the budget for their show on hairspray to maintain those electric-shock quiffs. Sales of their Jedward masks have funded nothing more elaborate than a glorified PA, with minimal stage dressing and live sound mainly confined to their excitable but largely incomprehensible babbling between songs.

The predominantly pre-recorded music fell into two categories: fizzy rave pop originals, and ADHD covers of the likes of Blink 182’s All The Small Things, with the pace only dropping below hyperactive for their rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way.

The bratty Bad Behaviour, robot love song Techno Girl, Saturday Night – not to be confused with the superior Bay City Rollers and Whigfield hits – and their undeniably catchy Eurovision entry Lipstick stood comparison with their nutty pièce de résistance from X Factor, Under Pressure/Ice Ice Baby. But only when they squirted the front rows with giant water pistols to the strains of the Ghostbusters theme did it become obvious that Jedward had found their calling, as wind-up ringleaders at a non-stop chaotic kids’ party.

Rating: **