The night people. I hear the song of the night people and I am drawn once more into the basement of Pivo Pivo for, down there, the false gods of Eso, AxIs Of and No Need For Idols are practising their dark art. The more cynical amongst you might well suspect that this is just another artistically justified excuse to drink Guinness but the forces of unpredictability turned out to be having a field day.
There was nothing out of the ordinary during No Need For Idol’s set. In fact, their set seemed an almost pedestrian rebirth of yesterday’s rock riffs but those five boys from Falkirk knew how to power a song with enthusiastic drumming and pure macho vocal posturing. Like the (old) man once said, I only put Viagra in my tea to stop my biscuits going soft when I dunk them.
Axis Of were a whole different kettle of fish however. Rock was never going to encompass their sound as they took a didactic post punk outlook and squeezed in some dry humour – cats getting run over by cars is always a chuckle generator - and energetically injected power chords to bake a musical cake that would most certainly have razor blades in it. Edgy and dissonant, this Irish band seemed, and this is not the insult it might appear, to be American. That means they sounded like professionals and that, believe me, is a very good thing.
Then the fire alarm went off. Hello Waterloo Street, I wasn’t expecting to see you again for a while… Fifteen minutes of blue flashing strobe lights later, Fireman Sam gives the all clear and I rush, yes rush, as decorum is entirely secondary in these circumstances, to retrieve my now lonely and abandoned Guinness. Sir Foley senses my pain and suggests that two beers are better than one. He is, of course, right.
Onwards to the main event. Eso, slightly fazed by the fire alarm and a previous encounter with our double handsome police force, extended the compact and bijou stage to accommodate four men and a woman on a mission to go retro whilst getting resolutely physical. Front man Tobias went large on the mischievous physicality and it was abundantly clear that drama was no stranger to this band. A show is a show, you see, and if you get that right then the fan worship will follow. Eso scored more than a few points on the two guitars electro rock fan worship scale tonight.
It wouldn’t be a night out without a post beer visit to Best Kebab. There are some students there and one of them has a cocktail kettle apparently borrowed from the nearby student’s union. That makes perfect sense – sort of – and, minutes later, those night people wander off into the night armed only with chips and cheese. As the man behind the counter remarked, Glasgow is a weird city but also a fun city and, with his hand duly shaken for that, I head off into the night myself with only chicken pakora to keep me company. Chalk another one up to fast food philosophy.