What is a man to do on a Sunday night when the commercialisation of television has left us bereft of quality religious programming to provide for our spiritual needs? A cunning plan came over the Bluesbunny - why not substitute beer and loud music to get us closer to God. Or at least closer to Tennent's brewery which turns out to be a mere 1.2 miles from King Tuts in Glasgow. Close enough. With the beer issue addressed, tonight's loud music is provided by Blitzhoney, Hercules Mandarin and Operahouse.
We are guided in the first step in our spiritual odyssey by local Glasgow band Blitzhoney. This 4 piece outfit fortunately bear no relation to men of the cloth (one of them would make an interesting nun though) and they crank those jagged indie style guitars right up in a determined attempt to get the crowd dancing to the devil's music. "Talk of the Town" sees them hit their stride with the female harmonies livening up what would have been a standard indie boys making a point type song. The songs from their forthcoming EP ("Guernica" and "Strangers in the Dark") were a lot more impressive with a strong sense of melody becoming evident. From tonight's evidence, this would seem to be a band that is going to develop further and will be worth watching out for. In the meantime, they are a very respectable live act.
Taking us yet closer to heaven is Hercules Mandarin. Blitzhoney did a fine job of warming up the crowd but Hercules Mandarin are not here to take your confession - they are here to convert you. The crowd doubles in size in an instant as the band play the intro to their set. "There's a Riot" (from their debut album "Blonde, Drunk, Brilliant") shakes the room. This band sound practised and professional and, even better, look like they are having the time of their lives. Their enthusiasm transfers quickly to the crowd and they need little encouragement to move forward to the stage. The anthemic "You Could've Read My Mind" would provoke a singalong in a stadium and certainly gets a positive response in the more compact surroundings of King Tuts. Even the intense "Kats" holds the audience as if in a spell and the last song - "Last Destruction Call" - comes too soon but drops us gently back into reality. The band leaves the stage to rapturous and well deserved, applause.
Drawing the short straw tonight is London band Operahouse. Being on a UK tour, they were probably told about Glasgow audiences - the best in the world if they like you etc etc - but the wind was knocked out of them by the support acts. Most of the audience had come to see Hercules Mandarin and showed little interest in this band. A bit of a shame really as they are creditable performers with Alexander Kaines' fretwork being particularly impressive. Audience disinterest lead to a more perfunctory performance than might otherwise have been expected and lead singer Johnny Lloyd looked rather perturbed throughout and said little between songs. They have some pretty decent material with their current single "Born a Boy" standing out but it just wasn't their night.
After the Hercules Mandarin set, Bluesbunny would not have been surprised if someone had run in and shouted "Get the sheriff, the support act done gone killed the headliners!" All credit to them as Hercules Mandarin gave it all they had and emerged triumphant (we are so glad that we gave their album top marks!) Blitzhoney put on a creditable performance as well and Operahouse will probably never eat haggis again. Here endeth the lesson.