Return Of The Mac...... Glasgow Show

[Grumpy_Jimbo]

Simply stunning my faith in Mac is fully restored.........

Brief summary Mac was joined on stage by Pete Byrne & Gordy on Guitars, Some chap on a the piano and a string quartet.....

Mac was in fine form telling stories and answering questions shouted on from the crowd, he was being bloody funny as well...... His voice sounded great, their was no ranting or raving during the show except when he berated a couple for talking through "History Chime" he was even encouraging people to sing along with him......!!!

He played amongst many Candleland, Proud To Fall, All My Colours, Read It In Books, Rust, Arthur, Idolness Of Gods, The Game to name some, he even played "Somewhere" from West Side Story accompanied only by the string quartet........

All in all a great night, and I went fearing the worse..........

[JackT]

That sounds pretty damned fine.

[the ghost of guitarplayer]

Nice touch having the string quartet. Did they play all the way through or just for "Somewhere"?

[camden jack]

Great news!!! He always seems to take Glasgow seriously, as he well should. I knew he would get it together - whenever he decides to. The pattern seems to be a disaster followed by a triumphant success!! Good decision to have Gordy there. I would love to see him bring this solo type of show to US - the one where he's on form. What a set list!

[AllanG]

Simply stunning my faith in Mac is fully restored.........


[Snip]


All in all a great night, and I went fearing the worse..........

Like you, I arrived having read the reviews from Brighton and Tunbridge Wells and was expecting to be disappointed.

The support act served only to lower my expectations to the point that I was checking my watch wondering if I should maybe just spend the rest of the evening in the pub. The poor bloke came on and picked up a guitar in the same way that roadies do to check that they're in tune. And then he sang. He may have been good. Who will ever know? The guys had set up the PA in such a way that all the middle frequencies had been removed from the mix leaving us with a sound which rendered him, at once, loud but unintelligible. It didn't help that his on-stage rapport with the audience was, to put it frankly, non existent.

After he'd finished, the management endeared themselves to the (increasingly restless) crowd by closing the bar.

Oh, joy.

Another check of the watch.

And another...

And then...

On came Mr McCulloch.

By his own admission, he was nervous for the first couple of songs so there wasn't much banter (although his voice was great and the songs were brilliant).

After that, he settled down and various musicians joined him on stage, culminating in the (totally unexpected) string quartet. (I missed a bit of the explanation but, when he introduced them, I'm pretty sure that he said that they had just met today - if that's the case then they played a blinder!)

The Bowie story was hilarious, the Leonard Cohen story was endearing and he obviously has a soft spot for Glasgow after telling us that a gig at the Barrowlands had "restored my self esteem". He didn't elaborate but it was heartfelt and I think the audience just melted at that point.

He played note-perfect versions of all that we'd come to hear (my favourite was "Candleland" but I'm sure everyone went away satisfied).

But this was "An Evening with..." so we got much more than just a run-through of hits. Among the highlights were impromptu covers of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne", just enough of Bowie's "Heroes" to leave me wanting to hear him do the whole song and a totally brilliant version of "Somewhere" which I suspect was busked on the night (he was reading the lyrics as he sang them) but was, nevertheless, simply gorgeous. Oh, and "I'm waiting for the man" has never been performed better, not even by Lou himself!

All in all, once he'd settled down and relaxed, this became one of those "you really need to have been there" nights.

[JackT]

Why don't we get these.

[withahip]

This one I wish I had seen.

[Mr. Brian]

Why don't we get these.

taxes

[Grumpy_Jimbo]

Nice touch having the string quartet. Did they play all the way through or just for "Somewhere"?

They played on Nothing Lasts Forever, Waiting For The Man and Somewhere, apparently as the previous poster said they had only met that afternoon ........

[Kounelaki]

Thanks for the review, Jimbo.

[Dave Smith]

That sounds more like it!

[Dr Evil]

I suppose he values his life enough not to pick a fight with the crowd in Glasgow.

[Voodoo Billy]

Sounds like a great night Jimbo, cheers for the reviews.

Seems like we were right Dave, he's more at ease with more onstage backup. It appears we're finally getting through.

[mrsmac]

It sounds great, wish I had been there

[morty]

What a relief - but he wouldn't of wanted to flop in Glasgow.

It sounds very much like the gig in Zeligs in April.

'When he's good he is very very good but when he's bad he's horrid'.

I too wish I had been there.

Bet there was some heavy drinking afterwards - he is probably still going.

Great to hear he was on fine form.