“Not every gig is perfect, but fuck it.”
Those words fall out of singer Greg Puciato’s mouth just before The Black Queen close their set with a visceral and vibrant version of Apocalypse Morning. He’s right.
The band’s show in the depths of the cool, but cold and dark converted warehouse that is Glasgow’s SWG3 is littered with unforeseen and uncontrollable tech issues that in all honesty, really stop the show from taking full flight. Often at key moments all sound simply ceases, leaving just Greg’s vocal and the dull twang of guitar strings with no amps echoing around the concrete surroundings. It becomes so unsustainable the band are forced to take a break to fix the issue half way through the set.
As soon as they come back, there’s not a single error and their richly textured and powerfully emotive music really comes to life. Not just because of the lack of technical difficulties, but because of the palpable goodwill in the room between a band whose honesty with their crowd pulled them that much closer together. As a result, the second half of the set finally ascends to the heights the band have been threatening since this evening’s first note.
For the record, even during the gremlin plagued first half of the set The Black Queen are great live. It’s also fascinating to finally understand how much of the music is guitar based, an exciting showcase of the band’s creativity.
This wasn’t the perfect gig, but it was uniquely special because of its imperfections.
7/10
Written by: Calum McMillan
Photos by: Calum McMillan
