A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 10 (Part 3) : AT WHICH ALDO FLIES SOLO

REVIEW OF VERONICA FALLS/NOVELLA/PALMS : STEREO, GLASGOW - 10 MARCH 2012

Passing up JC's late offer to be bored to tears for free by Laura Marling (an experience I was already familar with), I stuck with the original plan and headed off to Stereo.

I was accompanied for the evening by my better half, who was attending her first gig of the year. Arriving at the venue we got talking to an acquaintance who works behind the bar, and he advised us to get downstairs to see the first support band Palms, which we duly did.

The name didn't ring any bells until we saw the group on stage and I was reminded that this was the new band of the former lead singer of Glasgow noise terrorists Divorce. The three girl lineup went on to provide us with and enjoyable half hour of Dum Dums/Vivian Girls style sounds, with the lead singers vocal style adding an appealing quirkiness. The only negative from my notes is that they were a tad one-paced at times, however, they were definitely interesting enough that I'd hope to get the opportunity to see them again.

The next support band Novella then took to the stage, again three girls, this time augmented by a male drummer. In all honesty they didn't really grab me, there was nothing particularly bad about them, but I kept finding myself losing interest midway through songs. My impression was that they'd come around fifteen years or so too late, as almost all of their tracks would've fitted nicely towards the arse end of any 90's Britpop compilation.

Then following a brief interval it was time for Veronica Falls. I'd first caught a bit of them supporting Teenage Fanclub a couple of years back, and keen to see a full set I headed along to the Captain's Rest towards the end of last year where I thoroughly enjoyed them. Kicking off with three tracks from last year's self-titled debut album, including single Beachy Head, it was a reassuringly familiar opening. The introduction of new track Bury Me Alive, was given a good reception by the crowd, and followed up with another couple of tracks, Bad Feeling  and The Box from the album. The closest they got to singalong, more a mumbling shuffle given the number of fey indie kids in attendance, was first single Found Love In A Graveyard. A couple of other newies and oldies completed the set, returning for what now seems to be their standard encore of Starry Eyes.

So a very enjoyable evening in their company, however, for whatever reason it seemed to lack the energy and excitment of the Captain's Rest gig a couple of months back. The evening also brought to me the realisation that they aren't quite as jingle-jangle as they appear in my head, there's certainly a bit more weight to their sound in a live environment.

PS :  I think the above may be the first ever review of Veronica Falls without a mention of C86.





Aldo, Thursday 15 March 2012