LIVE REVIEW: VLURE, Psweatpants, Pearling, SWG3 Warehouse, Glasgow, 16/12/2023
Fresh from winning the award for the best live act in Scotland 2023, VLURE brought their hardcore punk/trance anthems to the SWG3 for an intimate show to a sell out home crowd. This band have styled their own genre of music with every show even better than the last!
The first of the support acts was Pearling, who entertained those that got down early with the ‘fairy pop’ style of music. Pearling released her first EP Celestia, Deep Sea Diver in May 2023 with the tracks from that forming tonight’s half hour set. The two dancers that accompanied the music gave a level of ambience to the music with the three performers dressed in all white outfits. The standout tracks were Kiera and Swan Tooth which the crowd appreciated. 6/10
London born rapper Psweatpants, who is now Glasgow based, took to the stage wearing a specially made green kilt for the occasion, the maker of which was in the audience as the singer acknowledged during his set. The up and coming rapper has recently toured with the likes of Bemz and his audience is now widening across the UK. Psweatpants has two albums under his belt already with the most recent one LIFE WAS SHIT, IT STILL IS NOW gaining widespread coverage. The talented rapper had the crowd onside from the first song as he used the full stage to whip the room into a frenzy with his high intensity lyrics while the sweat ran down his face, living up to his name. The Rave is Psweatpants most popular track and it went down well with the lively Glasgow crowd tonight. 8/10
SWG3 was packed out now and after a long intro the five band members burst on to the stage quickly kicking into Heartbeat and Show Me How To Live Again, both tracks from the January 2022 Euphoria EP creating wild scenes down the front with fist pumping going on all around the room. VLURE have a sound like no other with spoken word punk poetry working alongside heavy rave laced with punk and trance and that mix is what everyone was here for tonight. It was an explosion of raw energy and emotion thus allowing everyone the chance to express themselves individually and leave the room in a pool of sweat in the knowledge that they have had a great time. Next up were two of their 2023 releases This Fantasy and Cut It and the first crowd surfing of the night and it was noticeable that the crowd was now split into two sections, those there at the front for the party with every single one of them bopping and singing away to the anthemic Cut It, while those at the back of the room were much more static! VLURE released their second EP Heaven Sent just the previous day to this homecoming gig and when vocalist Hamish Hutcheson asks who has heard it a loud cheer is the response. By this point Hutcheson and guitarist Connor Goldie have the t-shirts removed as they control the stage and the crowd get a nice surprise when Psweatpants makes a reappearance to sing an unnamed track with VLURE as they demand a mosh pit and belt of the lyrics ‘I come alive in the heat of the night’ with both singers almost in amongst the crowd. This could be a potential 2024 release for both artists, we hope so anyway.
Shattered Faith is by far VLURE’s moist popular track and Hutcheson and Goldie try their hand at crowd surfing during this one to the delight of those down the front. A cover of God Is A DJ by Faithless goes down well with the fans, a tribute to the late Maxi Jazz as Hutcheson sings “This is my church/This is where I heal my hurts”, one of the highlights of the night. Brand new track This Is Not The End sees both singers head into the crowd again for more mayhem and the set finishes with the Excellent Euphoria, allowing everyone to leave every ounce of energy that they have left in their bodies in the room, absolute chaos ensues as the night comes to an end with everyone smiling as they leave the venue. Not sure yet what 2024 will bring for Vlure, maybe more releases and festivals as everyone will want to witness their outstanding live performances. 10/10
Written By: Alan Brown
