After hiking up what felt like the never-ending white-walled torture that is the stairs from the dodgy back alley up to The Garage Attic venue – I was so ready to have a drink and enjoy myself at The Amazons’ third gig date of their UK headline tour.
Unfortunately, when I eventually got to The Attic, I had just made it in time for Rascalton – meaning I’d missed the first support act Olympus. However, I must say, it must have been fate. Fate brought me and Rascalton together – I was clearly destined to witness this band live. As an ever-so-slightly crazed fanatic of The Libertines – from the first hum of ‘Hey Hottie’, I almost instantly linked them to a younger, cheekier and fresher version of The Libertines. After putting on a very good show, I had high expectations for the rest of the night.
Next up was Tibet, a four-piece outfit from Wales who got one hell of a reception. With a lot of evident die-hard fans practically throwing themselves at the stage to get a closer view, I was so surprised I hadn’t heard of them before that night – the perfect blend of moody rock/indie with an obvious influence from The Kinks and The Beatles – they are certainly worth keeping an ear out for.
Whilst enjoying watching Tibet play, I noticed the lead singer make an interesting gesture to someone hidden in the crowd. As I quickly turned to see who he was signalling to – immediately stunned and feeling a little star struck – standing right behind me was The Amazons, enjoying their support band play whilst making playful mimicking gestures back at them.
By this point, I was so unbelievably eager for The Amazons to take the stage. Once I saw them trying to hide in the crowd, they hung around for another five minutes before hurrying back into their booth to prep for Tibet finishing.
As soon as The Amazons entered the stage, they got stuck straight into ‘Millions (The Party)’ – which in my opinion was the perfect opening song to slowly but surely get everyone’s foot tapping and head bobbing along.
‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Junk Food Forever’ were firm favourites of the crowd. Both undeniable crowd pleasers featuring the perfect opportunities for the audience to chant along. These songs were undoubtedly the warm-ups for what was going to be a rumbling, rock ‘n’ roll fuelled 50 minute set.
Highlights of the night were the obvious ones: ‘Ultraviolet’ was the sort of song that had everyone singing like their lives depended on it, with the heavy and infectious guitar riff three quarters of the way through the song giving people time to actually breathe.
‘In My Mind’, which is their latest release, was easily one of the best songs of the night. In comparison to their other songs, it is their heaviest rock endeavour, and has probably the most captivating beginning which keeps you invested right through to the very end.
Whilst watching them play, you could see how much the band themselves love playing that song – it was written all over their faces throughout the whole performance of it, something that is extremely rewarding to see and even feel from a band playing live.
In between songs the band were anything but shy, making jokes between one another and with the audience – asking where’s good for a night out in Glasgow and where “we” should all head to after the gig.
Embarrassingly I was ‘that person’ who blurted out “DUSK!” to them, and even though they had no idea what I was on about, they were at least polite enough to seem somewhat keen with the response: “Yeah sure, let’s do it!” They then later confirmed that there would sadly be no Dusk, but that they’d be heading to Nice ‘N’ Sleazy and ABC instead with everyone cheering in agreement.
The last song of the night was ‘Something in the Water’, which was played to pure perfection. Everything from the way it was sung softly and slowly at the start, to gently picking up speed during the middle, to then progressing into a full-on, frustration-relieving, unavoidable head-banging session.
Once ‘Something in the Water’ came to a halt, I couldn’t believe 50 minutes had just flown by. I remember thinking: “This can’t be over. I don’t want it to be over!” Something that I don’t always feel towards the end of a gig.
The air in The Attic was electric with excitement from the crowd, and relief from the band after knowing they’d played a good set. Hanging about in the venue to get pictures and chat with their fans, they even wandered up Sauchiehall Street still chatting away to people.
It’s safe to say that next time The Amazons are in Scotland, I will sure as hell be going again, and probably every time after that. It’s refreshing to see a band put 110% into their performance, and if you’re looking for a quality night where the music’s loud and the banter is good – then I’d strongly recommend seeing The Amazons live.
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