A family affair

Well, that was the gig of the year for me!! Glasvegas at the 100 club on Oxford Street, London, was just simply astonishing and atmospheric. A gig I have been looking forward to for weeks and weeks. About a month ago me and my dad lost a dear friend of ours who introduced me to Glasvegas so the night was very emotional but extra powerful. We had a great day walking around the embankment enjoying the festive celebrations before making our way to Oxford Street. Me, my mum, and my dad, found ourselves at the doors of the 100 club on London’s famous Oxford Street. None of us had ever been to this venue before; just a bit of background, the club opened in 1942 and was originally called ‘Macks’ and hosted Jazz mainly; even Louis Armstrong has played there. Over the years it has also hosted some of the most famous bands and artists to ever create music such as The Clash, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols and so on, so you can imagine that this was quite an achievement for Glasvegas to play there. 

Having spent the last month listening to Glasvegas religiously I felt that I was more than prepared for the evening; I say “month” but they ended up being my second most listened to band of 2019 with 600 minutes racked up. Nonetheless, it was approaching 8.20 pm and the entire of the 100 club was eagerly anticipating what was to come, and what came was nothing short of genius. James and Rab (two members of the band) entered the stage and kicked off the set with one of their best, ‘Flowers and Football Tops’. This was my dear friend Mike’s favourite song and the song he first showed me, so it meant a lot to hear this live for me, my mum and dad; an incredible way to start the show. 

Following on from that they played songs ‘Later when the TV turns to static’ and ‘Lonesome Swan’ which are both very good songs, however next they played my favourite song ‘Euphoria Take My Hand.’ 100% my favourite Glasvegas song and in my top 5 songs of all time. The song is beautiful and means so much to me as a person, I would recommend to anyone that they give it a listen. Moving on they continued their set with ‘If’, ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’, ‘The World is Yours’ and ‘Geraldine.’ All of these four songs are just special and they prove how talented this band are. I remember hearing ‘The World is Yours’ years ago as it was a song on one of the FIFA games soundtracks; at the time I didn’t realise who they were, and especially would have never believed I would be seeing them live. In terms of audience reaction, ‘It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry’ almost certainly wins it for me, the place was bouncing. At one point James the lead singer just stepped back and let the audience take over, and they certainly did. This sort of moment is what Glasvegas and their music is all about, intimacy, passion and love. 

Glasvegas over the years have released a few albums such as ‘Glasvegas’, ‘Euphoric Heartbreak’ and ‘Later, when the TV turns to static’ which are all extraordinarily good albums, the best for me being their first, ‘Glasvegas.’ They played a couple of new tracks ‘Godspeed’ and ‘Keep me a space’ which were both very good and I’m looking forward to hearing more of their new stuff. Nearing the end of the set they played their most popular song of all ‘Daddy’s Gone’ which is an incredible song but a bit of a tough listen. It is essentially a song about something no one wants to go through, which is the death, or at least absence, of a father, however, the song remains very uplifting and positive; it is an amazing song! The evening was brought to a close with ‘Go Square Go’ and ‘Be My Baby’, which felt like a true encore - two amazing songs to finish the night off. I would seriously recommend anyone to give these guys a listen, they’ve changed my life forever. 

The last few weeks have been hard for me and my family and I think the music of Glasvegas has brought us together and helped us through it. And I’m sure their music will continue to help me through anything negative that comes my way. The band are ridiculously talented and it was a pleasure to see them live and I can’t wait to see them again next week :) :). I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and make sure to leave a comment and a like. Thank you.