Friday night. The sun shines on the west end of Glasgow. As a portent to the impending arrival of summer, people who don't smoke are actually sitting outside the Wise Monkey. Marketing misses distribute leaflets to the needy about the club next door. And it's hot. What would Hemingway do in these circumstances? Probably drink beer and probably is plenty good enough for me.
Live music time. Little Eye - or a third of Little Eye anyway - is first to sweat his stuff on the stage. Drinking heavily from a bottle labelled angst, he poured out his heart. A bit unsteady on his feet performance wise but enough promise was shown to make me fairly curious as to what a full Little Eye would sound like.
No problems with confidence for the Euan Plater Band. Sure enough, this band's songs also tended towards the introspective but the difference here was the presence of both a band and Euan Plater's confident delivery. I've said this before and I'll say it again now - a band that looks like they are enjoying themselves on stage is a band that people will want to see. So while the Euan Plater Band aren't scary, startling or shocking - in fact they are distinctly mainstream - they have that all important stage presence. They play and you'll want to listen.
Talking of bands that look like they are having fun takes me nicely on to the last band, Majestic Dandelion. Positively overflowing with youthful enthusiasm, they possessed a boundless energy and far more than their fair share of memorable songs. Sounding like some hybrid of the Strawberry Alarm Clock and Bright Eyes that met in a Saigon brothel way back in '67, they showed precisely why bands should rehearse and rehearse. Majestic Dandelion could easily take any of their neat little songs and turn it into an extended workout and also make it sound like it was written that way with drummer Graham Ralston handling the tempo changes on a disintegrating drum kit in a manner that belied his tender years. This was the first time I had encountered Majestic Dandelion. It won't be the last.
The clock strikes midnight. Hunger strikes me. Transit time from the Wise Monkey to Morellos (local vendor of choice for kebabs) is 3 minutes and 49 seconds. I write better on a full stomach.