Live Reviews


  Izaak the Tinker Thomas, Freaky Jesus, Franny McKeown and Invidia live at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow



I decide to do the barfly thing again. Don't know why I do the barfly thing. Well, I do - it isn't the Krušovice Cerne either - and so does she. Anyway, she tells me this story. At the end of a busy night, this guy comes up to her and offers to take her for a naan bread. No mention of a curry - just a naan bread! Of course you haven't seen her but, take it from me, she is beautiful. Strikingly beautiful. Any sensible man would go the full bhoona for her. Needless to say, she declined that guy's generous offer. That made wonder what an ordinary woman would get offered - maybe a bag of stale prawn cocktail crisps?

Eyes left to the stage where a serious looking chap called Franny McKeown is doing the acoustic singer songwriter thing in a Radiohead meets Oasis unplugged kind of way. To tell the truth, I couldn't make out a word he sang but, from his demeanour, I doubt he was intent on bringing joy to the world.

Rather more amusing was Izaak The Tinker Thomas. Actually, there were two of them but they reeked of alcoholic decay right from the start. You could tell that whisky was not a stranger to this duo but, in their songs, they also displayed a Tom Waits-esque sentimentality regarding the trip, stumble and fall that we all take as we go through life. Then, for some unfathomable reason, they dragged another guitarist on to the stage to shoot the rest of their set down.

Invidia kept to the mainstream indie rock track littering their commercial sounding songs with masses of heavyweight guitars and a decent amount of imagination. Certainly they were a little unsteady throughout their set tonight but, like I said, there is definite commercial potential there.

Taking us down the west coast folk rock highway into the night were Freaky Jesus. Vaguely psychedelic in feel, this band knew their way around a melody and successfully spun a musical web that clearly had some strange time travelling properties. It might have been a beer induced hallucination but I swear I saw a lava lamp. Being decently presentable musicians, they enlivened the laidback vibe with stabbing of strident guitar just to make sure everyone was paying attention. Of their songs, "Clowns" stood out.

With the music out of the way, there remains but one thing to discuss. Was Jesus really from Uddingston? Despite much pondering, no one could produce proof of that fact. However, Tunnock's caramel wafers are from Uddingston. That is an undisputable fact. In fact, Uddingston smells of caramel wafers. That's not a bad thing in my book.



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