IIISIO LIVE REVIEWS
V LIVE
SlLVEBFISl-l/ HAIR AND sxm TRADING c
J\
Cathouse , Glasgow, June.
The barriers are up, but still they come. The dispossessed, the wannabes, the yobs and the artists. ‘Ha, you‘re not allowed to stagedive here,’ gloats Livingston’s flame-haired Boadicea. But how to dam the deluge with some primitive metal construction? Some bands are born to be stagedived to/at; it relieves the monotony. makes the ticket price seem more worthwhile , hey. sometimes it even betokens involvement in the gig.
That was Silverfish. but this is Hair And Skin Trading Company. and somehow as they shuffle anonymously on stage and singer/bassist Neil adopts his chosen side-on position (maybe he looks better in profile). you can‘t help thinking they’ve overshot their targeted audience by several continents. Noise is the only thing yoking these two bands together. Silverfish blurt out sharp magnetic charges. Hair And Skin send out nebulous waves. Lesley rants continuously in her full-bodied roar; when he can be bothered, Neil mumbles like a half-hearted prophet of doom. Silverfish court contact with their audience, Lesley bidding us to ‘lick Chris's staples' (7); Hair And Skin have their own infallible wall of sound to hide behind. Silverfish are vulgar fun; Hair and Skin are detached and academic. People jump around to Silverfish; they sit cross-legged to H&STC.
Yeah, but who’s better? Silverfish are a good laugh and that‘s it. Hair And Skin, by virtue of their apprenticeship in Loop, sound like they‘re on the verge of delivering something more. It’s just a pity they‘ve had to move a few steps down the evolutionary scale to reach this current manifestation. Loop‘s stoned mantras have been pared down to bloody-minded, pummelling basics. It‘s like they’ve made the temporal but not the creative leap from 605 to 705 revisitation. It’s like Silverfish never
happened. (Fiona Shepherd)
1
SOMETHING HAPPENS!
Marco’s, Edinburgh, 13 June. They’re contrary buggers, Something Happens! (Their exclamation, not mine, and lwill hitherto excommunicate it as it’s a pain in the butt and, as will transpire, entirely inappropriate). With their last album, 1990’s ‘Stuck Together With God’s Glue’, the Dubliners scored. Big time. This was ‘llterate big boys’ rock’, the Stadium Stull it Was Okay To Like. While only the discerning cognoscenti in Britland caught a whiff of their vapourtrails, they were big huge massive in the States. College radio clasped Something Happens to their bosom, the album sold loads. Emboldened by this financial lifeline,
Something Happens have llipped their wigs, gone out on a limb, and : apparently made a third album -the j imminent ‘Bedlam A Go Go’ -which offers little in the way of easy-access . graspabllity. And makes iorthoroughly ‘ frustrating gigs. In front of a ridiculously thin crowd, it's little real surprise that tonight nothing ever happens for Something Happens. Mostly, the set is given over to the new stuff. The bass player and guitarist jerk and prowl and slash around the stage, ramming home the punky rock-outness that has moulded the new Something Happens. Before, they had textured dips and climbs, moments of
respite like ‘Kill The Roses’ and ‘Parachute'. Now, they’re demonically-possessed and into Pixies, loose cannons that rill straight through the current single ‘Daisyhead’ and ‘Bedlam”s ‘Are You Gonna Suffer Hi”.
This approach does lend the previously unheard material a rush and a heat which exercises a momentary thrall over us few, strageg punters. It’s not enough. The mighty single ‘Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello (Petrol)’ fares a lot better, the recognition factor obviously crucial. But coupling its energy to a forceful personality also mattered. Most else tonight bristled with the lonner but ached for more of the latter, ending up a directionless bender to satisfy the band’s sell-administered new briel. Could do better; better do better. (Craig McLean)
V LIVE
DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY
King Tut’s, Glasgow, to June.
It seemed so peactul then suddenly BOOOM! and rapper Michael Franti’s shouting ‘GO GO 60’ as he and percussionist Bond Tse jump all over the stage (a funnier sight than it sounds, since Franti’s quite a tall chap and his head disappears into the ceiling every time he does it).
Setting the tempo for the evening, the first two songs, ‘Everyday Llle’ and ‘Satanic Heverses‘, are delivered with considerable energy dancewise, much
unlike the album. The covers come off the TVs and Tse (King Flavor Flav ll) weaves back and forth zapping everyone with his remote control before disappearing and taking a power saw to some steel hubs, sending a plume of sparks across the stage. Franli slows the pace: before delivering an angry rendition of ‘Winter Of The Long Hot Summer’ he delivers an emotive apology for British troops killed by ‘friendly lire'.
From here on in, the whole thing gets a bit silly. They deliver most of the songs from the album (plus a couple of new tracks which point towards a funkier future), returning for an encore of ‘Music and Politics', during which the fun-filled crowd for some unknown reason starts singing ‘Ooops Upside Your Head’. Then, after a rather wonderful rendition of ‘Good Times’, Franti (‘Sorry my voice is a little shaky tonight, I’ve just started puberty’) does his Axl Rose impression, screeching ‘Live and Let Die’ and running across the stage like a madman. Some guy comes out of the audience, takes Tse’s mike and starts a five-minute freestyle rap. By now, DHH have been on stage for two hours and show no signs of cooling down. They may be made in America from anger, but for one night in Glasgow they let their hair down and the good times roll. (Philip Ogilvie)
Concerts listed are those at major venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time of going of press.
ROCK
I GLASGOW BARROWLAND (226 4679) Goats Don‘t Shave. 11 Jul; Crowded House. 12 Jul; DelAmitri. l8Ju1; Fishbone. 22 Jul; Pop Will Eat Itself. 2 Oct ; The Saw Doctors. 12 Oct: Inspiral Carpets. 4 Nov.
I GLASGOW CELTIC PARK (227 551 1) Bryan Adams. llJuL
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Nanci
Griffith. 30JuI; Four Tops. 14 Sept.
I GLASGOW GREEN (031 5561212)Michacl Jackson. 14 Aug.
I GLASGOW SECC (031 5576969) Roxette. 18JuI: DefLeppard. 21 Jul; Chris De Burgh. 12 Sept: Scottish Music Show. 19—20 Sept; Metallica. 27 Oct; Cliff Richard. 29—31 Oct; George Benson. 1 Nov; Tom Jones. 2 Nov: Jason Donovan. 6 Dec: Gary Glitter, 23—24 Dec. I LIVINGSTON FORUM (0506419191)The Wonder Stuff. 24 Aug. I EDINBURGH CASTLE ESPLANADE (557 6969) Mike Oldfield. 4 Sept.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Erasure. 8JuI; Del Amitri. 17Jul; David Byrne. 21 Jul; Texas. 8 Aug; Four Tops. 12 Sept. I EDINBURGH OUEEN'S HALL (668 2019) lnspiral Carpets. 3 Nov.
JAZZandFOLK
I EDINBURGH OUEEN'S HALL (668 2019) Berg/Stern Band. 31 Aug—1 Sept: Debut. 31 Aug—1 Sept; Carol Kidd/Georgie Fame. 1 Sept; Carol Kidd. 3 Sept: George Shearing/Carol Kidd, 3 Sept; Nana Vasconcelos. 4 Sept; Courtney Pine. 4 Sept. I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511)Carol Kidd. 4Jul; McCoy Tyner/Elvin Jones, 6Ju1; Grover Washington. 7 Jul; Barber/Melly. 8 Jul: j Tony Bennett. 10Jul:
«.
' B 0 0 K N Tribute to Miles Davis. 11
I
I Jul.
I IGLASGOWTRAMWAY
l (227 5511) Paul Motian.3
I JuI:PhiIWoods.4JuI; 1rakere.3—4JuI;Carla
BIeyandSYJO.5Jul;
I Great Guitars.7Jul:
; Robben Ford. 8 Jul; Carla
I Bley BigBand.9JuI:
Yellowjackets. 9 Jul; Don
; Cherry. l0JuI;Jim Mullen. 10JuI: Pizza Express All-Stars. llJuI;
_ Jimmy Smith andJimmy
McGriff. 11Ju1.
; LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511)
Engelbert Humperdinek, 24 Sept.
I GLASGOW SECC (031 557 6969) Shirley Bassey.
2 Dec.
A I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Music of Andrew Lond-Webber. I3—15Jul: James Last.4—5
Sept.
‘ CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT
HALL (227 5511)NYOS.
27 Jul; Labeque Sisters. 28
Aug; Peter Nero. 29 Aug;
James Galway. 4 Sept;
; Joshua Rifkin. 5 Sept;
Skitch Henderson
Conducts. 11—12 Sept;
Last Night ofGIGS. 13
Sept.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN'S
HALL (668 2019) British
Federation of Young
Choirs, 11 Jul; McGibbon
Ensemble. 31 Jul.
I EDINBURGH
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
A11 ticket applications to
Box Office. EIF. 21
Market Street. Edinburgh
EH1 IBW (031 225 5756).
I SUBSCRIPTION
SEASONS Programme
details and tickets for
Royal Scottish Orchestra,
Scottish Chamber
Orchestra. BBC Scottish
I Symphony Orchestra. anc
i City ofGIasgow
: Philharmonic Orchestra
I are available from
Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 551 1); Usher Hall. Edinburgh (228 1155):
l Queen‘s Hall. Edinburgh
1 (668 2019). Tickets for
I Scottish Opera from
E Theatre Royal, Glasgow
1 (332 9000); Playhouse.
I Edinburgh (5572590).
The Wonder Stuff
34The List 19 June — 2 July 1992