FINAL FLING
And now, the end is near The massive Homecoming Live gig in Glasgow this month marks the end of a year of Homecoming celebrations. Mark Robertson reckons it’s a moment to stop being cynical and enjoy the music
Y es there has been some grumbling about aspects of Homecoming, but it’s all indicative of that pervasive under- a-dreich-cloud Scottish pessimism that beleaguers a lot of our country’s celebrations. The festival’s climax, Homecoming Live – a grand concert at Glasgow SECC featuring the cream of Scotland’s bands – has also been weighed down by naysaying to the point where the event’s different stages have now been moved into more intimate SECC halls to avoid too many empty seats.
But why have punters been staying away from a gig with such a stand out bill? Idlewild, Teenage Fanclub, The View and King Creosote on one stage for £20 – it’s a steal. The answer might have something to do with the perceived politicisation of the event. Homecoming Live is the final fruit of a huge investment from both the Scottish Government and bodies like VisitScotland to attract Scots back to their homeland. The effort has been attacked as furthering the SNP’s nationalist cause, wasting taxpayers money and, perhaps most damningly, being a bit dull.
But as easy as it is to rubbish a marketing campaign, the festival’s good intentions have arguably been borne out in profits for Scottish businesses. Roddy Woomble of Idlewild appreciates the logic behind the whole thing. ‘Homecoming is a government initiative to bring people to the country to boost tourism, which is what Scotland makes most of its money out of, or at least a lot of it. It’s like releasing records, you have to think of new ways to present yourself, or people will move on somewhere else. When we were asked to do Homecoming I was cynical, thinking: “Oh, you want people that left Scotland to come back? That’s a bit weird.” But then I thought, “You know, it’s not.” It’s just highlighting the positive aspects of the country: the culture, literature, the food, the beautiful scenery – and music’s just one of those things.’
Three different stages at the SECC will be filled with a vivid mix of home-grown talent from cornerstone musicians like Mike Scott and Deacon Blue to young upstarts like The View and Twin Atlantic. Thankfully, any potential
political undertones to the event have been swept away leaving the music unadulterated as the main attraction. Woomble agrees this could only be a good thing. ‘I don’t think writing about politics [in music] directly is a great idea but I think there’s a place for flag waving. I’ve been to highland games a few times and they’re great fun! And they are almost kitsch when you see it, but you’re thinking, “This is an ageless tradition, but there’s something deeply eccentric about it.” And that makes me appreciate the country even more.’
Ever the optimist, Woomble points out there’s one great Scottish cliché that pretty much guarantees this to be a pretty special night: the crowd. ‘There’s a real nice union between groups and an audience who are all from the same place, and you can just see that. I mean, I’m as happy to play in
From left: Deacon Blue, Idlewild, King Creosote, Mike Scott, The View, Teenage Fanclub
FINAL COUNTDOWN
We pick some of the musical highlights to be found at Homecoming Live
DEACON BLUE ‘WAGES DAY’ You can almost smell the Clyde and the waft of chips with salt and vinegar when Ricky Ross wraps his raspy croon around this 80s hit. THE SKIDS ‘INTO THE VALLEY’ Before Richard ‘Jobbo’ Jobson started making films about Edinburgh folks going on killing sprees, he was making a raucous art-punk racket with these guys. IDLEWILD ‘READERS AND WRITERS’ Roddy Woomble and co deliver a fresh hit off their new album, Post Electric Blues. THE VASELINES ‘MOLLY’S LIPS’ No wonder Kurt Cobain loved these Weegies, with classic indie-pop gems like this. TEENAGE FANCLUB ‘EVERYTHING
FLOWS’ The Bellshill power-poppers have been enjoying a recent resurgence in popularity, and the catchier-than-the-cold chorus on this reminds you why. LLOYD COLE ‘PERFECT SKIN’ We think we like the sound of Louise in this song, she of the perfect skin and ‘cheekbones like geometry and eyes like sin’, who’s ‘inappropriate’ but then it only makes her ‘more fun’. THE VIEW ‘SAME JEANS’ Let’s hope those Dundonian rock-pop scamps have been to the launderette recently, as they revisit the song that gave them their big chart breakthrough, and celebrated the art of scruffiness.
Birmingham as I am in Aberdeen, but I do think that when you play in Scotland and you are a Scottish band, there’s a sort of connection with an audience . . . I think it’s really positive they’ve assembled a bill of Scottish bands that mean lots of different things to different people of different ages, who are going to go to the SECC on a Saturday night in November and who’re going to have a good time.’ that
Homecoming Live – The Final Fling, SECC, Glasgow, Sat 28 Nov. See music listings, page 75 for full line-ups.
16 THE LIST 19 Nov–3 Dec 2009