INTERCITY CRAWL
Glasgow
After the original Camden Crawl in the dark wet winter of 1995 and the Camden follow-up in 1996, this wristband-waving, venue-hopping, multiple-band-sampling event (still with free CD!) has pebble-skimmed its way northwards from London on Wednesday, skating through Manchester on Thursday and leaving its final ripples in Glasgow on Friday night: twenty-one bands, five venues.
The buzz of MAGOO tempts us first of all, downstairs in Nice’n’Sleazy. Not many others here, but a handful of devotees crowding to the front to witness the floppy fringes and colourfulness of these Norwich youngsters, and to be delighted by their lo-fi guitar noise. At times Dr Who-like, at times brass-bandish, quick, slow and unpredictable, they take it in turns to turn their backs on the audience and they’re great.
The ‘aha’ of TOPPER filters through the half-deserted upstairs of King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (the legendary). They’re Welsh, they wear high-necked v-necks and they’re repetitive. They keep showing hints of becoming exciting but the potential is, as yet, unfulfilled. So we leave them... ..for the doo-doos of SILVER SUN in the Garage, for their unoriginal yet pleasantly melodic cross between Green Day, Buddy Holly and Weezer, for their thin stripes and glasses, for their frenetic movements, for their introductory (and exiting) harmonies quickly usurped by a flurry of noise. Then they finish.
So the tinkle of VELOCETTE lures us towards the centre of town and the Cathouse. Not many at all seem to have made it this far and those that do, bizarrely, seem to all congregate at the left-hand side of the stage. Amongst them I detect John from Bis who tells me that things like this don’t work in Glasgow. I wonder why. People should come for the Stereolabesque Velocette (formerly Comet Gain minus one), half male, half female, with tambourine and yet more melody, light harmony and harmonica, keyboard, bells, music, pop! But we leave slightly early, just in case the hoards have decided to turn up...
...for the crooooons of TANYA DONELLY, back at King Tut’s. There’s a reasonable crowd. Her Belly and Muse experience clearly show in the most professional performance of the night. She has shiny lips and shiny eyes and sings the first song beautifully acoustically alone. Then Rich and Dean and Dave join her, and Elizabeth, who could be a Spice Girl except for her tendency to play the accordion. All very together, even in their stops and sudden starts and the ooze of vocals followed by a blaze of guitar (especially in ‘Low Red Moon’). The drummer rocks himself back and forth during the quiet, drumless bits, or bites on his drumstick. The audience rock and Tanya croons well.
