Glasvegas connects in L.A. debut
Kevin Bronson on
5
Glasvegas arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday night with Morrissey’s hair, U2’s jackets, the Jesus & Mary Chain’s fuzz pedals and, it seems, enough emotional heft to connect with almost everybody in the sold-out room at the Troubadour … even Rick Rubin, who bobbed his head as he watched the proceedings from the balcony.
Live, the Scottish quartet’s gauzy anthems and noodly ambient numbers carry plenty of spiritual uplift — at least as much as any band that lifts 1939’s “You Are My Sunshine” in one song and utters the lyric “Liar, liar, pants on fire” in another. And this being Glasvegas’ first show in a city where the peeps have no brogue, the excitement was palpable. It always seems to be that way here when a buzz band from the United Kingdom makes its L.A. debut, NME clippings in hand.
And as recent debuts I have witnessed go, this lacked the explosiveness of Franz Ferdinand, or Editors, or Kaiser Chiefs, or the Cribs. It wasn’t even the View. Instead, it was good band with a couple of strong singles (“Geraldine” and “Daddy’s Gone” were especially powerful) whose timing is impeccable: There’s nobody on the landscape right now who sounds like Glasvegas. Or at least with the foursome’s sense of coiffure.
Glasvegas was preceded by a strong solo set from Libertines/Dirty Pretty Things guitarist Carl Barat, who got a little help on vocals on one number [above].
||| Live: Glasvegas performs an in-store at 7 tonight at Amoeba.
The songs being presented in the live setting really drove home the point that most of the songs have very few lyrics, and the lyrics they do have contain a lot of recycled words, trite sentiments, and the same vocal melodies over and over. I mean “Please Come Back Home”, come on, it’s just a rewrite of “It’s Christmas Baby Please Come Home”, only without any original thought, or any lyrics! It’s just the title sung over and over Manics style.
Sigh.
p.s.
ironically their cover of “Be My Baby” isn’t even any good, I prefer their cover of “Come As You Are” and “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” (the original of which they played on their pre-show tape.)
One of the few times I actually wished I was in LA!
I can’t wait until the hype dies down so I can see them here in the UK – I LOVE THEM. Not to mention that James used to play for Scottish football club Queen of the South and looked amazing in a kit.
xb
You got it right. Band and album – three stars out of five.
And you came to their concert why??
I thought they were very good. James Allan has a beautiful voice and I think its so refreshing to hear songs about real things- not just schmaltzy love songs. My Own Cheating Heart is very original and very truthful. Daddys Gone is a great song that is very personal yet moving at the same time.
I think Glasvegas will go far and are a great young band.
One man’s Smiths is another man’s Gene.