Music reviews: Jamie Cullum, Armadillo, Glasgow | Lightning Seeds, St Luke’s, Glasgow

Jamie Cullum and Lightning Seeds play last gigs before coronavirus shuts down Scotland’s live music scene. Reviews by Fiona Shepherd
Jamie Cullum: fidgety PIC: David Borrat/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockJamie Cullum: fidgety PIC: David Borrat/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Jamie Cullum: fidgety PIC: David Borrat/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Jamie Cullum, Armadillo, Glasgow ***



With coronavirus containment measures in full swing, Jamie Cullum was justified in noting “this might be the last concert for some time.” Despite the initially muted atmosphere in the Armadillo, he and his band were determined to laissez les bon temps rouler with an infectious (ahem) cocktail of commercial jazz, soul, funk and pop.



It has been almost 20 years since Cullum was first touted alongside Amy Winehouse as a jazz wunderkind. He has barely aged a day in the interim and remains one of the gang, a democratic bandleader sharing microphone space with all his musicians for an opening rendition of the cautiously optimistic Mankind.


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There was an easy flow to his set, as he marshalled seamless shifts of mood and tempo, from intimate piano balladry such as Drink to the playful jazz pop of Just One of Those Things, from the a capella and unamplified opening of one of his oldest songs, All At Sea, to one of his most recent offerings, The Age of Anxiety, which was closer to Coldplay in its use of wordless chants and arena-friendly uplift.


Cullum presided at the grand piano, triggering samples as well as tinkling ivories. But he was unable to sit still for long, fidgeting across the stage as the groove led him.


His fans didn’t need to be asked twice to join him in front of the stage for the latter part of the show, when his band transformed into a drum corps to deliver the breakdown in their Latino-flavoured Sinnerman, unleashing an energy which finally got the party started just before lockdown ensued.



Lightning Seeds, St Luke’s, Glasgow ***


The late Mark E Smith famously claimed “if it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s The Fall”. As founder and sole permanent member of The Lightning Seeds, Liverpool legend Ian Broudie might have cause to make a similar claim, although it appeared from the mostly fresh-faced current touring line-up of the outfit that it was Broudie and your grandkids on bass.



The first half of the show was given over to a 25th anniversary celebration of The Lightning Seeds’ third album, Jollification, home to a sterling selection of advert-friendly earworms. Broudie and his eight-piece young team performed under a giant spinning strawberry, in reference to the album cover. It was a playful move which set the tone for two sets of robust likeable Indie pop tunes.



Broudie is now in his early 60s but there is an eternally youthful quality to his timeless tunes and light timbre which speaks of carefree optimism, as exemplified at the climax of the first set by the blithe, if bittersweet Lucky You. Easily palatable though this was, there was more of a frisson to Broudie’s soulful androgynous vocals on the dreamy, proggy Telling Tales.



The second half of the evening was given over to hits and favourites from the rest of the Seeds’ catalogue, including their shimmering cover of The Turtles’ You Showed Me , a joyous and righteous rocking rendition of Wreckless Eric’s Whole Wide World , the charged-up Sugar Coated Iceberg and debut hit Pure, a consummate slice of Scouse indie pop for which there was much love in the room.


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