Princes Street, Edinburgh
4 stars
The air was chilled, and so was the audience in what the elements decreed was one of the most laid-back Hogmanays for some time. This year’s Concert in the Gardens, saw some canny programming, with the Ross Bandstand line-up consisting of three acts who work best in intimate club spaces, but who are savvy enough to know how to make a big show of things. With an earlier start time, a couple of new stages and a selection of Scot-pop classics beaming out across the city, it was probably accidental that Orange Juice’s Blue Boy was played just before Paolo Nutini and The Vipers appeared on the dot of 9pm, but it was an ironic prelude to a joyful displays of rock and roll roots music to get the party started.
Sporting a trilby and boho threads, Nutini is clearly in the throes of embracing full on Beat bard troubadour status, and has come a long way since what now must be regarded as his formative years, however recent they may be. Delivering a joyous set of full-throated Caledonian soul, Nutini’s voice is now rich enough to make him a younger, prettier and somewhat smoother heir apparent to the great Tam White, The Vipers gusto recalling White’s days with his band The Dexters.
Friendly Fires are the latest crop of well-spoken young men in skinny jeans who’ve absorbed the soundtrack to Simon Reynolds’ book, Rip It Up and Start Again, and can now do that percussion-friendly LCD Sound system post-punk Nu-Rave thing with aplomb. This lot have a singer who resembles comedian Simon Amstell and a set of identi-kit art-rock perfectly designed for Saturday afternoons on T4. Beyond recent underground anthem, Paris, they also do a passable indie-kid cover of the Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles Chicago house classic, Your Love. A song, incidentally, which similarly styled Edinburgh combo X-Vectors have been playing in their set for a good five years, to the extent of releasing their version through Optimo’s Oscarr label.
While over on the Waverley stage Glasvegas gave what may well prove to be a dress rehearsal for this time next year when they will undoubtedly have graduated to Ross Bandstand status, Groove Armada took stock with a euphoric greatest hits set that was effectively a repeat of their turn at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. With the core duo of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay fleshed out by a full band, they’re now long-in-the-tooth enough to provide many a soundtrack for ageing dinner party ravers re-living their mad-for-it years in comfort. Live, however, Groove Armada are a beefy proposition, their mash-ups of 57 varieties of club culture punctuated by swathes of green and pink laser-beams swooshing into the night sky, making for a booty-shaking delight on I See You Baby.
The band returned following the Bells for a sublime At The River before cranking things back up for what might well have been the biggest club date of their ten year career.
The Herald, January 4th 2009
ends
4 stars
The air was chilled, and so was the audience in what the elements decreed was one of the most laid-back Hogmanays for some time. This year’s Concert in the Gardens, saw some canny programming, with the Ross Bandstand line-up consisting of three acts who work best in intimate club spaces, but who are savvy enough to know how to make a big show of things. With an earlier start time, a couple of new stages and a selection of Scot-pop classics beaming out across the city, it was probably accidental that Orange Juice’s Blue Boy was played just before Paolo Nutini and The Vipers appeared on the dot of 9pm, but it was an ironic prelude to a joyful displays of rock and roll roots music to get the party started.
Sporting a trilby and boho threads, Nutini is clearly in the throes of embracing full on Beat bard troubadour status, and has come a long way since what now must be regarded as his formative years, however recent they may be. Delivering a joyous set of full-throated Caledonian soul, Nutini’s voice is now rich enough to make him a younger, prettier and somewhat smoother heir apparent to the great Tam White, The Vipers gusto recalling White’s days with his band The Dexters.
Friendly Fires are the latest crop of well-spoken young men in skinny jeans who’ve absorbed the soundtrack to Simon Reynolds’ book, Rip It Up and Start Again, and can now do that percussion-friendly LCD Sound system post-punk Nu-Rave thing with aplomb. This lot have a singer who resembles comedian Simon Amstell and a set of identi-kit art-rock perfectly designed for Saturday afternoons on T4. Beyond recent underground anthem, Paris, they also do a passable indie-kid cover of the Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles Chicago house classic, Your Love. A song, incidentally, which similarly styled Edinburgh combo X-Vectors have been playing in their set for a good five years, to the extent of releasing their version through Optimo’s Oscarr label.
While over on the Waverley stage Glasvegas gave what may well prove to be a dress rehearsal for this time next year when they will undoubtedly have graduated to Ross Bandstand status, Groove Armada took stock with a euphoric greatest hits set that was effectively a repeat of their turn at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. With the core duo of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay fleshed out by a full band, they’re now long-in-the-tooth enough to provide many a soundtrack for ageing dinner party ravers re-living their mad-for-it years in comfort. Live, however, Groove Armada are a beefy proposition, their mash-ups of 57 varieties of club culture punctuated by swathes of green and pink laser-beams swooshing into the night sky, making for a booty-shaking delight on I See You Baby.
The band returned following the Bells for a sublime At The River before cranking things back up for what might well have been the biggest club date of their ten year career.
The Herald, January 4th 2009
ends
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