In the drink addled mind of the Bluesbunny, there exists a memory of a film seen long ago. It opened with a rolling credit going something like "In a galaxy far, far away …" Anyway, that memory prompted a philosophical moment about space, about time and especially about alternative realities. In one of these alternative realities everything would be much the same but promoters might actually promote gigs and sound engineers would actually know something about live sound engineering. Alas we live in a different reality and tonight four fine acts get to suffer in front of an audience at Barfly whose numbers would leave a football team coming up short.
First on tonight is Caragh Nugent. Augmented tonight by her band, her soaring voice calms this Bluesbunny sufficiently to allow himself to order another Guinness. There is an advantage to going on first at this particular venue - at least you stand a chance of getting through your set before the echoes from the downstairs stage drowns things out. This is the first time that Bluesbunny has seen her perform with her new band and they do flesh out her songs well with "Free" and especially "Motorcycle by the Sea" benefitting from the additional musicians. Ms Nugent still performs the more sensitive numbers like "Precious Things" solo but this Bluesbunny liked what he heard.
Next on is Claire Wood. Last heard at Bar Bloc where she suffered from some truly awful sound, tonight she suffered the indignity of having her haunting, melodic sounds drowned out by the band playing downstairs. Joining her on stage tonight are the talented guitarist Paul Tracey and Nicola West on cello and on the rare occasions that the din downstairs dies down, we get to appreciate their classy contributions. "Teeth" and "Cut Me Out" impress as they always do but a more intimate venue would probably suit her style better. Bluesbunny was also impressed that she kept going on what must have been dispiriting circumstances.
Lainey Scott-Campbell is on next. With just a guitar for company, she too suffers from the inadequate sound and spill from the downstairs venue. One thing is clear, she has a big voice but it remains soothing, even tranquil, at full power. Perhaps she should have gone without amplification as we might well have been able to appreciate her talents more. This Bluesbunny took a liking to "Be Still" and "Automatic". Hopefully they are the right titles as the sound guy appeared to be playing that well known party game of hide the vocals in the mix. Again we have to praise the confident and professional performance Lainey Scott-Campbell gave in the less than ideal circumstances.
Visiting Glasgow from New York is the last band of the night Looker. They have actually journeyed all the way over from Edinburgh tonight as they had been supporting the Undertones. Judging from the bands that the Bluesbunny has encountered, New York seems to be an excellent training ground for musicians and Looker are no exceptions. They play tight and their polished musicianship draws you right in. Despite the lack of audience, they tear right into their set. "Master's Gone Away" and ""After My Divorce" shine through as future post punk power pop classics. Bluesbunny has always had a soft spot for harmonies and even the miserable sound cannot hide those of Boshra Alsaadi and Nicole Greco from our ears tonight. Drummer Robbie Overbey does what every drummer should - shakes the room without actually drawing attention to himself. This is indeed feel good music and they deserve a much bigger audience than they got tonight.
As Bluesbunny prepares to brave the cold in search of that holy grail also known as the perfect chicken pakora, a thought occurs. In fact, two thoughts occur. One - no gentleman wears a hat indoors. Two - Fidel Castro never managed to promote a successful concert either. Clutching a copy of Lookers' "After My Divorce" on glorious seven inch vinyl, we stop pondering things - it is bad for the digestion - and continue on the quest for the holy grail.