Gig review: THE BLACKOUT – King Tut’s, Glasgow, 23 January 2014

This tour was billed as ‘The Final Party Tour – Take 2’ due to the fact that the first leg at the tail end of last year had to be cut short as frontman Gavin Butler had been taken ill. Thankfully he has now made a full recovery and the guys are back on the road to complete some unfinished business. After some confusion in the days leading up to the gig as to which Glasgow venue it was going to be held in, it was a busy King Tut’s that greeted us on entry.

By the time we got into the venue first act of the night, Rat Attack, were already strutting their stuff on the Tut’s small stage. The band bill themselves as ‘Party Punk’ and singer Mike Hodges did his best to get the crowd bouncing along to their pop punk tracks. The band’s latest single ‘Saturday Night Feeling’ went down best with a strong hook which gets lodged in your brain whether you want it there or not. The short set went down well and the band managed to get the night off to a good start.

Next up were perennial support act LostAlone. I have seen the trio before but they failed to make much of an impression on me on that occasion, tonight however I was impressed by the intensity and musicianship on show. Singer and guitarist Steve Battelle comes across as a bit shy and unsure of himself with his between song chat but once the music starts he and the rest of the band prove themselves to be more than up to the task. The guys have a bit of a Muse vibe about them and with tracks like ‘Guilty’, ‘Hostages’ and ‘Vesuvius’ they have the soundtrack to match. They have a new album entitled ‘The Bells!, The Bells!!’ coming out soon and will be back on the road for a headline tour to coincide with the release, on this evidence it could be well worth getting along to a gig near you.

The Blackout are most definitely a band you must see, back on the road and clearly loving every minute the guys were in excellent form. Kicking off the set with ‘I’m A Riot? You’re a F**king Riot’ the guys ignited the touch paper and made the crowd explode into mass of bouncing bodies. The dual vocal delivery of Gavin Butler and Sean Smith was as rapid and as sharp as ever, as was the witty banter from the pair between songs.

Although the band like to play it for laughs they take the musical content seriously. The one thing that always strikes me when seeing the band is how much of a harder edge the band has in their live sound which is due partly to the steaming guitar work from James ‘Bob’ Davies, a man who obviously loves his work.

The set was culled from the band’s four albums with ‘Higher and Higher’ and ‘Children Of The Night’ proving to be crowd favourites. The guys latest album ‘Start The Party’ wasn’t left out with ‘Radio’ and ‘Running Scared’ also whipping the crowd onto a sweaty mass.

To keep up the momentum and in order to play as many tracks as possible before the venue curfew the band decided to forgo the usual encore nonsense and played on without a break. Finishing off with a rapid pairing of ‘ShutTheF**kUppercut’ and the anthemic singalong ‘Start The Party’.

Again The Blackout proved to be a powerhouse live act and were obviously back firing on all cylinders. The fact that they were playing in a venue the size of King Tut’s bewilders me as the guys deserve a much bigger audience. However, those that were lucky enough to be along tonight saw a performance from a band back at the top of their game, long may it last.

Review and Photos by Dave Wilson

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)