Glasvegas, The Loft, Forres

Remember Glasvegas? I know with the untamable amounts of music available these days it's tricky not to forget bands after one album but Glasvegas seem to have a resonance with me (probably because I have a 6 foot poster of their debut album's artwork on my bedroom wall, but that's besides the point). Back with an almost finished second album entitled 'Euphoric Heartbreak' and new Swedish drummer, Glasvegas have hit the road once again. However rather than playing Wembley, Hampden and the Millenium Stadium like their last U.K tour, this time they're playing off the beaten track with intimate gigs in places like Orkney, Dunoon, Troon and tonight - The Loft, Forres.
James Allan steps onstage all in white, a welcome change from his usual funeralesque 'man in black' image, and immediately the Glasgow (of course) quartet blast into a track from the forthcoming album, 'The World Is Yours' - a frenzy of their classic wall-of-noise guitar effect used so much in the self titled debut but with an additional newfound technicality.
It's impossible not to notice James on stage. He has all the swagger of Liam Gallagher (except not with the same cockiness and a whole lot more talent) and seems lost in the songs as he stoops and bends around the microphone. His new look does not, thankfully, include a new pair of sunglasses as his jet black Ray Bans stay on throughout the set - very rock 'n' roll. As the gig goes on he strips to a white tank top (or "wife-beater" as they're known) to complete the East End of Glasgow look. After he stands on his monitor and stares around the room, as if sizing up the crowd before downing his beer during the opening riff of 'Geraldine' - soundtrack to winter 2008 and BBC's Sportscene. It is, of course, a true man-off-the-street anthem written from the point of view of a Glaswegian social worker. Along with 'Daddy's Gone' and 'It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry' it is Scottish songwriting at it's very best.
So what's different about the new material? The addition of drummer Jonna Löfgren (okay, i copied and pasted her surname, you got me!) is a vast improvement. Don't get me wrong, Caroline McKay's caveman beats helped make some of the aforementioned alternative Scottish national anthems perfectly simple, however a change was needed for album number two. Nowhere is this more clear than mid-way through the show as 'Shine Like Stars' makes it's tentative first steps out of the rehersal/recording studio and onto the stage. Featuring a brilliant, up tempo beat from the Swede (it's easier if i call her 'The Swede', it saves more pasting) it is clear Glasvegas have decided to take their music to a catchier level - keeping from plodding along like 'Glasvegas' - the album - did at times.
The Glaswegians end with a quadruple of first album tracks that sees 'Flowers and Football Tops' join the others in becoming rightful national treasures. The ultimate fighting song 'Go Square Go' is gloriously fiesty and gets a chant along and the heart wrenching 'Daddy's Gone' features the band stop playing for two choruses as the mostly intoxicated crowd sing about how James' Dad left when he was a kid - it can't be good for his self esteem, having 500 people singing "he's gone, he's gone, he's gone" over and over at him. After a couple of minutes of mostly incoherent chat to the crowd (my East End dialect isn't very good) James gets the sound guy to come on for a cameo appearance ("he's aw-weys bin wi' us, right fae the start"). They finish with the debut's closer 'Ice Cream Van' which would usually have been rather a dull last song had it not been for one last burst from all members.
Gallantly leaving the stage to beery cheers and applauds, the band can finish the album knowing it stands the live test in intimate surroundings. I for one am extremely excited for 'Euphoric Heartbreak ' and a second Mercury nomination may be on its way. Now come on, all together now - "A WON'T BE THE LONELAY WAN, SITTIN OAN MA OWN UN SAD"