A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 3 : THEY WENT OUT TO THE EASTERHOUSE COS THEY LIKED THE SOUND OF IT

REVIEW OF CORNERSHOP/1990s at THE PLATFORM, GLASGOW : FRIDAY 20 JANUARY 2012

Celtic Connections is a long-standing annual festival of music held in Glasgow every January. It began as a celebration of folk and traditional music but has increasingly diversified into more contemporary stuff and many acts who now appear under it banner are about un-Celtic as a church of Scotland minister who has a season ticket for the football team that play at Ibrox Park. But this diversity is hugely welcome, for without it your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo would not have got on a #41 bus on a wet Friday night to go see Cornershop supported by the 1990s.

Easterhouse is a vast post-World War II housing estate, known locally as a scheme, some five miles east of the centre of Glasgow. It’s an area I know quite well as I had family who lived there and when I played football when I was younger, many of the matches were played on pitches in the scheme. Over the past 50 years since its construction it has always had a bad reputation – much of it sensationalised and over-played. It has, in recent times, undergone a massive regeneration with many facilities that should have been built in the first place finally being made available to the populace. One such facility is The Bridge which brings together a college, library, swimming pool and performance space under one roof. The performance space is called Platform – and this was the venue Celtic Connections had expanded to for part of its 2012 programme.

This was a new venue to both of us – for me it is now approaching 60 the number of different places in Glasgow I've has seen a band or singer since 1979 (there’s a posting in there somewhere). It is a very modern and adaptable space, capable of supporting theatre, dance and concerts. It’s the sort of place which has retractable raked-seating meaning it has an incredibly tall space from floor to ceiling and 1990s looked awfully small when they came on not longer after 8pm to a sparse and what seemed largely uninterested audience, including a group of well-behaved and attentive 8 year-olds who sat cross-legged down on the floor near the stage.

The 40-minute set was enjoyable enough that the time passed quickly and such was the energy and enthusiasm of the band that they quickly won the majority of the audience over. The venue benefits from having cracking acoustics with the sound being ass good as either of us have heard in many a long time, and this particularly highlighted just how good frontman Jackie McKeown is on guitar.

1990s have never really cracked it in the six or so years they’ve been going. Maybe that’s because they’re not your usual 3-chord indie outfit. They’re more American rock-indie that UK skinny-boy indie. They were far from dull, but the set was just a bit too one-paced to be truly special. We both actually thought a song played near the end had been aired earlier in the set. The thing is though, 1990s would be the perfect opening act for many an arena or stadium band on tour. They have crowd-pleasing upbeat tunes and based on a wet Friday night to an audience that was far from familiar with their songs, a cracking positive attitude to performing.

mp3 : 1990s – You’re Supposed To be My Friend

Cornershop took to the stage at the back of 9pm. The venue, although not the biggest, was far from full. But it was an audience that really wanted to be there and gave the band a rousing reception as they one-by-one took to the stage and belted out Heavy Soup. They very quickly got into a funky groove and gave the fans a set that drew almost exclusively on their three studio albums released between 1997 and 2009. It was the first time either of us had seen them live, and for JC in particular it was a long-held ambition being realised. Some songs were even better on the stage than the recorded versions. Sleep On the Left Side was a particular highlight of the early part of the set – a keys, drums, bass and vocals on version that had the entire audience dancing along. JC noted at the time ‘Will I hear a better song live in 2012’?

About 45 minutes into the set they went into the hit they are best known for. Played at the pace and temp of the original and not the Fatboy Slim version that topped the charts back in 1998, Brimful of Asha brought the house down.

After a band plays its best known hit, things can often go downhill for the audience. And here’s where Cornershop divided opinions.....

The next 20 minutes featured just the one song – The Turned On Truth (The Truth Is Turned On) which closes the 2009 LP Judy Sucks A Lemon For Breakfast.

JC : Stunning sonic boom boys. The groove is perfect and this noise could go on all night as far as I’m concerned. Doubt I’ll hear anything so infectiously funky the rest of the year.

Aldo : Could have done with this being cut down a bit before the noodling began. But that’s personal taste for 3 minute pop songs and my self-admitted short attention span.

But we both agreed that the encore of Good Shit was the perfect way to end the evening and we went home happy. JC with a new t-shirt in his possession and Aldo determined to listen to a bit more Cornershop.

mp3 : Cornershop – Good Shit







JC and Aldo. Thursday 26 January 2012