LIVE REVIEW: Red Rum Club, Delights, The Bankes Brothers, The Garage, Glasgow, 07/03/2024
Liverpool’s Red Rum Club released their fourth album Western Approaches in February, and tonight’s sold-out crowd would have been delighted when the band announced that their UK tour would be kicking off in Glasgow, promising to play all ten tracks from the newly released record. Over the past five years this quirky indie sextet have gained an army of followers, proven by those that were crammed into Sauchiehall Street’s Garage tonight.
When RRC toured across North America a few years ago they met The Bankes Brothers in a pub in Victoria, Canada and that night over a few drinks they promised to bring the two brothers and their band to the UK on the next tour. A promise which came true tonight, as The Bankes Brothers perform in Scotland for the first time. With an early start at 7pm, the band entertained the half-filled room during their thirty minute set, even sampling the local Tennents lager! Their EP In Waves was released in March and these six tracks made up the bulk of the set tonight. The brothers Nelson and Morgan Bankes shared vocals and guitar duties during their lively performance, and they even had time to play a new track Getting Closer. 7/10
Delights‘ music can be described as a cross between synth-pop and indie and they put on a hell of a show for us tonight, as they run through a setlist of fan-favourite tracks. Utopia opens the set and has the crowd tapping along, before they move into some songs from their 2022 mini album Cool Sports, including 1989, Tender, and a very upbeat version of Iris. There will be new music from Delights in 2024 and we were treated to a couple of new numbers tonight, one of which was titled Take A Picture, which was memorable in that the bass player swapped to acoustic guitar. They head out on their own tour in May and we’d highly recommend you get to a show! 8/10
It wasn’t the usual Garage crowd tonight. Instead there was a mixture of young and old appreciating the music without the normal mosh pits – maybe that can be left for the heavier bands. Red Rum Club had the crowd moving from the first minute with opening track Godless, taken from Western Approaches, delivering high energy set from the word go. Following this energetic start were Honey and Calexico from the Matador album, with the trumpet only adding to the atmosphere. The inclusion of the trumpet is what sets Red Rum Club apart from most indie bands, there is definitely something about this instrument that resonates with the audience and Joe Corby wowed the crowd throughout the night with his playing skills. Vocalist Fran Doran created a good band/audience vibe between tracks, and much credit has to go to him for keeping the crowd singing along. Alive and Undertaker from Red Rum Club‘s latest release went down well with the knowledgeable fans, as the band played a good mixture of tracks old and new during the eighteen song setlist. The highlight for us was Vibrate, with the clever lyrics making a real connection with the crowd as Doran sang, “Sorry that I missed your call, I lost my phone and it was on vibrate.”
The three-track encore had the crowd in raptures. Starting with Last Minute, the band followed with one of the highlights of the night, Eleanor from The Hollow Of Humdrum, which the fans sang back during the catchy chorus “E-L-E-A-N-O-R”. The last track of the set was Would You Rather Be Lonely, the third of the night from Matador, with the fans once again singing it back – it seemed like every soul in the Garage was getting involved in this one. A great end to the night and even on the way out loads of fans were still singing the chorus “Would you rather be lonely, lonely all the time/Would you rather be lonely, lonely or be mine.” A brilliant night from a brilliant live band! 9/10
Written By: Alan Brown
