Ian played the Cottier in Glasgow last night, as part of his current tour. The Cottier is a converted church, which seats around 350 people, and there were very few empty seats. After a slight delay (due to transport problems on the trip from Ireland), Ian came onstage at around 8.30, grabbed his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and started with one of the tracks from his new album, "The Loveless Age." On a first listen, it sounded excellent, and the combination of the theatre and Ian in good voice was very impressive.
From there, we moved onto more familiar ground, mixing stuff from the previous solo albums with some classic Icicle Works stuff. I don't know if it was the church atmosphere, but it was a very "polite" beginning, we all listened silently to the tracks, and then applauded at the end. About 25 mins into the set, the acoustic was downed, and we got a few tracks with his electric guitar, and a wide range of pedals. "Out of Season," from the first Icicles album, stood out for me, with the guitar work providing more atmosphere than anything else - you'll understand if you catch any of the shows yourself. A few more tracks, and the first part ended with "Fire Inside My Soul" which drifted into "Light My Fire" at the end.
A 20 minute interval, and then on with the music. Early in the second part, we had "Little Princess" from the new album, Ian's current favourite, and again, excellent on a first listen. As part of the intro, Ian chatted to the audience about the new album, which he described as "mellow." On with more solo and Icicle Works stuff, and at last some audience participation, when we were all told in no uncertain terms to sing "Evangeline," and we duly did, followed by "Understanding Jane." Another new track "Liverpool Girl," a no-holds-barred homage to Liverpool girls, their love of crisps (!) and lack of clothes - possibly not the best song he's ever written, but a good laugh if just for the lyrics - and I get the impression he's quite concerned about the reaction he may get back home!
At this stage, and unexpected treat - Roy Corkill and another bloke (Mucker? Mocha?) [editor's note: Mokka, a.k.a. Chris Hutchinson] on bass and synths, and "You Stone My Soul." However, the others disappeared as quickly as they arrived, and back to the solo gig. Great singalong on "Great Dreams Of Heaven" - anyone who can write "do doo doo do do doo do do do" as a verse is OK in my book, another couple, and then off, at about 10.45. Huge applause, but up came the house lights anyway. A few people headed for the bar...
...and then back bounced Ian, Roy and the other bloke, and looked for requests from the audience. He'd been told we had time for one, so he did two, "Still Got The Fever" and "Child Inside A Father," despite highly vocal requests for "High Time," "This Time Is Forever," "What She Did To My Mind" and countless others. Off again at 11.05, after almost 2 and a half hours, and 22 songs - all for a tenner - now that's what I call value for money.
All in all, and excellent gig, one of the best I've seen him do. And if you're going along to one of the early gigs, take a few quid extra - the merchandise stall has copies of the new album for sale, even though it's not out until the 26th. Judging by the number of people reading the inlay during the interval, it looks like they shifted a good few copies of it too.
Songs played (not in order):
14 October 1998. Minor Editing, 21 July 2000.
This document Copyright © 1998, Sandy Matthews. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission.
The right of Sandy Matthews to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
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