LIVE REVIEW: Duff McKagan, James and the Cold Gun, The Garage, Glasgow, 02/10/2024
Photo Credit: Andy Davies
Michael Andrew ‘Duff’ McKagan is well known as the bass player from Guns N’ Roses and was part of their successful tour in 2023. But this month he is on a solo run of shows around the UK and Europe showcasing his 2023 album release Lighthouse while also promising a Guns N’ Roses track or two and a couple of covers. The Lighthouse album was very successful over in the States reaching number one in the album charts.
Tonight’s show at Glasgow Garage on Sauchiehall Street sees a good proportion of the crowd in early to see James and the Cold Gun, a band from South Wales fronted by James Joseph the former bass player of Holding Absence. They were lucky enough to get a support slot for Guns N’ Roses at Hyde Park last year and McKagan must have liked what he heard to have brought them out on tour with him. For those old enough to remember the 1980s James and the Cold Gun was the title of a Kate Bush track back in the days before the internet and social media, ah those were the days … James Joseph proclaims his band to be ‘South Wales’ loudest band’ and he is not far wrong as try to wake up the Glasgow crowd with half an hour of rock and blues. This band are very high energy but the crowd are very quiet as James tries to get a chant going to no avail. Third track in is Guessing Games and Joseph then introduces the bass player as the coolest fucking person in the room, we quite agree with that statement as she is the most energetic person in the room, that wouldn’t be hard with the crowd that are in tonight. New single Fragile sounds great but the best tracks for us are She Moves and Grey Through The Same Lens, James and the Cold Gun continue touring with Duff McKagan into Europe during October before heading over to the USA for a support slot with Thunderpussy. 8/10
This was our first time seeing Duff McKagan live and we were looking forward to a mix of rock and blues, joining Duff on stage tonight is guitarist Tim DiJulio who is outstanding through the set, as this is the Lighthouse tour we were treated to all ten tracks from that very album. Forgiveness opens the set, it is a very laid back start and is taken from the aforementioned album quickly followed by Chip Away, the first of five tracks from the Tenderness album. I Saw God On 10th St. was one of the best of the set, it’s not long until the first cover is played with I Wanna Be Your Dog a cover of the famous The Stooges number, looking around the crowd seem to be enjoying this so far, it’s not a night for mosh pits or crazy behaviour just foot tapping and head nodding is the order of the day. Another couple of our favourites from the Lighthouse album are Longfeather and Just Another Shakedown raising the energy in the room for next song I Fought The Law, a song made famous by The Clash but originally a The Crickets song, the crowd singalong is memorable “I fought the law and the law won”.
For anyone that came along expecting to hear a set filled with Gun N’ Roses tracks would be very disappointed but Duff did play one, You’re Crazy from Appetite For Destruction, it’s hard to believe that album was released thirty-seven years ago, we’re suddenly feeling old! There are two more covers towards the end of the set in Johnny Thunder’s You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory and last but not least is a cover of the timeless classic David Bowie song Heroes that McKagan released recently, the crowd go wild for this one, displaying energy that would have been welcome further back in the set. The twenty one song set ends with two from the Tenderness album – Don’t Look Behind You and Falling Down being the tracks in question – the crowd reacted really positively to every song played tonight and we hope to see Duff McKagan in Scotland again soon either as part of Guns N’ Roses or a solo artist. The Lighthouse tour is now moving around Europe before some USA dates towards the end of the year. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
