Live Review Roundup: The Bands We Saw in 2019

Pretty much just a list of great bands and artists to keep an eye on.

We basically failed at keeping on top of reviewing all the live acts we saw in 2019. We also failed at producing this round-up of live acts we saw in 2019 before the end of 2019…

But now, with January 2020 drawing to a close, we can finally present to you “The Bands We Saw in 2019”. It’s pretty much just a list of great bands and artists that we think everyone should check out and keep an eye on.

Let’s get started.

Brutus: w/ support from Cassels

Broadcast, Glasgow

6th May 2019

On January 23rd 2019, Brutus released the truly stunning live video for their song “War”, an epic teaser for sophomore album “Nest” which would be released two months later on 29th March. When “Nest” came out, I couldn’t get enough of Stefanie Mannaerts’ intensely powerful vocals and thrashing drums, Stijn Vanhoegarden’s crooning guitars and Peter Mulder’s grumbling bass.

In short, I loved the new record (read the full review here) and absolutely rinsed it until finally getting the chance to see the Belgians live in a tiny Glasgow venue in early May. You can read the full review here, but the performance the band put on blew me away and truly lived up to the quality and promise of that “War” video.

Noisy, yet reflective, Oxford two-piece Cassels proved worthy support and smashed out an excellent warm-up set for the main event.

With “Nest” riding high on 2019 end of year lists, Brutus are a band destined for much bigger things. They’re one of the hottest live acts around so make sure you catch them in a smaller venue while you still can.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Brutus: http://www.wearebrutus.com/

Cassels: https://cassels.bandcamp.com/

Alice in Chains: w/ support from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

intu Braehead Arena, Glasgow

23rd May 2019

Alice in Chains are one of my all-time favourite bands and when my mate told me he had a spare ticket for their show at the intu Braehead Arena in Glasgow, there was only one choice to make. I’ve not given the support Black Rebel Motorcycle Club much of a chance over the years so I thought it would be cool to check them out also, however when the day came, their entire set was spent in the pub “preparing” for AIC…

I have to say I’m not a huge fan of the original material AIC have released since the band reformed in 2005. William DuVall does a great job of filling in for the late Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell is still an incredible guitarist and vocalist but the new material (for the most part) just doesn’t quite vibe with me. That said, those original songs from the likes of “Facelift” and “Dirt” still sound amazing to this day.

The set itself was a real crowd pleaser with a tonne of old songs and a few of the better newer tracks including some from latest album “Rainier Fog”.

The band opened with an absolute belter in “Bleed The Freak” and followed up with just hit after hit after hit such as “Them Bones”, “Dam That River”, “Down in a Hole”, “No Excuses” interspersed with the likes of “Check My Brain”, “Your Decision” and “Rainier Fog”. The closing run of “We Die Young”, “Nutshell”, “Angry Chair” and “Man in the Box” was utterly jawdropping. As a true testament to just how many great songs this band have in their locker we were then treated to an encore featuring “Got Me Wrong”, “Would” and “Rooster”. Exceptional.

Overall, the band were fantastic and the sound was great, despite being in a pretty cavernous venue. I did find myself losing focus during some of the newer tracks but generally, this was an incredible setlist. My only gripe is that they didn’t play “Rain When I Die”. Oh well, you can’t have it all.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Alice in Chains: http://aliceinchains.com/

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: http://www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com/

Jamie Lenman: w/ support from False Advertising, Orchards & Frauds (Road to Lenmania)

St Luke’s & The Winged Ox, Glasgow

5th July 2019

Admittedly I’m a bit of a Jamie Lenman fanboy, having also been a huge Reuben fan, so anytime he comes to Glasgow or Edinburgh I’m there (hence why he appears on this list twice).

This gig was billed as a mini-festival “The Road to Lenmania” leading up to Lenman’s headline festival stage at “2000 trees” festival (one of the coolest small festivals for alternative music in the UK) later in the summer.

The bill consisted of a short introductory acoustic set from Jamie (I’m ashamed to say I missed most of this in the pub…again) followed by sets from “False Advertising”, “Orchards” and “Frauds” before ending on a full electric Lenman set.

“False Advertising“ took a couple of songs to get into their stride and for the crowd to really warm to them but they were excellent, smashing through some great alternative rock tracks from their new album “Brainfreeze” (which hadn’t been released but is OUT NOW) including the fantastic singles “You Won’t Feel Love” and “Influenza”.

“Orchards” put on a decent show and were clearly having a great time performing their brand of happy-go-lucky alternative rock combined with bubblegum pop vocals and there was a decent crowd reaction. They didn’t quite vibe for me personally as there wasn’t quite enough bite in their style, but that’s just down to personal preference.

Eventually, “Frauds” came on and pretty much stole the show up to that point. Described on their Facebook page as “TWO NOISY FELLAS” they came out and proved just that. Their songs all slam, with huge crushing riffs and crashing drums but songs like “Putin’s Day Off”, “Sandwiches” and “Could’ve, Should’ve, Would’ve” all show off the duo’s inherent talent for stupidly funny (yet often shrewd) lyrics and perfect comic timing. “Frauds” are a band that sounds good on record but even better in a live environment. Truly a must-see live act.

Jamie Lenman himself was impeccable as always. Having just released his covers album “Shuffle” that very day, he inevitably played “Killer”, “Popeye” and “She Bop” some of the great singles from that record, and they were all excellent. He also played several Reuben songs including “Dusk” (the stunning album closer from “Racecar is Racecar Backwards”). Combine this with the fact that original Reuben drummer Guy Davis was on the sticks and you’ll understand why I got quite drunk and a little emotional.

Overall, this was a great night, with fantastic performances from all the bands involved.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Jamie Lenman: http://www.jamielenman.com/

False Advertising: http://www.falseadvertising.co/

Orchards: https://www.orchardslive.com/

Frauds: https://fraudsfraudsfrauds.bandcamp.com/

Epic Beard Men

Gilded Balloon Debating Hall, Edinburgh

10th August 2019

Epic Beard Men are a rap supergroup made up of veteran MCs Sage Francis & B. Dolan who deliver expertly crafted bars and rhymes over old-school, yet modern-sounding beats with a great deal of wit and panache. They are indeed epic bearded men.

Having heard their god-tier single “Pistol Dave” released on 2nd May (which I promptly added to The Head Scratcher’s Alternative Music Playlist for May 2019) I jumped at the chance to catch the duo live, during Edinburgh’s International Festival Fringe, a few months later.

Francis & Dolan hit the stage full of energy and immediately commanded the seated crowd forward towards the stage before blasting through a number of tracks from their debut album “This Was Supposed to be Fun” over pre-recorded beats. The album title is rather apt indeed because every song is an absolute joy to listen to and a tonne of fun to join in with, especially live. While a backing track is a bit of a disappointing replacement for a live DJ, this is pretty standard practice and ultimately the duo brought more than enough raw energy, bounce and humour to make up for this.

Despite a problem with the sound from the mics early on (the vocals were drowned out by the beats), this was corrected a few songs in and well before we were treated to “Pistol Dave”, a certified banger. If you’re a fan of old-school hip-hop then Epic Beard Men are definitely worth checking out.

Don’t forget to check out the band:

Epic Beard Men: http://epicbeardmen.com/

Press Club: w/ support from Medicine Cabinet & Casual Drag

Broadcast, Glasgow

30th August 2019

Press Club are a scuzzy lo-fi garage punk band from Australia. They’re also very good. So good in fact that they released two albums in 2019 alone (well in Europe at least): the impressive debut “Late Teens” in January and powerful follow up “Wasted Energy” in August.

I absolutely loved “Late Teens” when it came out and was particularly impressed by the performance of vocalist Natalie Foster but it didn’t quite feel like the finished article. “Wasted Energy” felt like a step up in terms of songwriting and musicianship and showed an ambitious and talented band quickly mastering their craft. We reviewed “Wasted Energy” on Episode 01 of The Scratch Cast, which you can listen to on YouTube below, it’s a bloody good album.

I had missed the chance to see Press Club live in Edinburgh earlier in the year (they SOLD OUT Sneaky Pete’s) so when I saw they were coming to Broadcast in Glasgow I quickly snapped up a ticket. Having been impressed by the power of Brutus, at the same venue a few months earlier, I was excited to see how Press Club would fare. As it turns out, they were fantastic. Natalie Foster stalked the stage, staring down the crowd and getting right in amongst it, her long hair a thrashing blur as she yelped and howled her way around, while bandmates Greig Rietwyk, Iain MacRae and Frank Lees smashed out clanging riff storms, grating basslines and crashing drum fills. My expectations were more than met.

Credit has to be given to the venue though, the sound was incredible for both gigs I attended at Broadcast this year, so hats off to those guys.

Support on the night was provided by two Edinburgh bands: Medicine Cabinet, who looked like they’d time travelled from a different era but impressed by swapping all their band members round between songs, and Casual Drag a fun noisy rock three-piece who bashed their instruments to breaking point.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Press Club: http://www.pressclubmusic.com/

Medicine Cabinet: https://medicinecabinetband.bigcartel.com/

Casual Drag: https://www.facebook.com/CasualDrag/

Armand Hammer (Elucid & Billy Woods): w/ support from Comfort

The Old Hairdressers, Glasgow

6th September 2019

& w/support from Kenny Segal & DJ Taye

Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

10th September 2019

Armand Hammer, the brainchild of NYC rappers Elucid & Billy Woods, released one of the very best albums of 2018. “Paraffin” is a dark, brooding, industrial monster: bleak, full of creeping dread and dripping with atmosphere. It’s a masterpiece of raw and honest hip-hop which deservedly ended up on our favourite albums of 2018 list.

Unsurprisingly then, when it was announced that a UK tour was happening I was ready to jump on the Megabus down to London the moment the first show was announced. After coming to my senses somewhat I decided to wait for more dates to be announced. When the Glasgow date eventually dropped I bought a ticket in seconds and relaxed, content in the knowledge I was finally going to see Armand Hamer. But then something strange happened. An Edinburgh date was also announced and with support from Kenny Segal no-less, the beatmaker who contributed the backing to Billy Woods’ excellent 2019 album “Hiding Places”. Of course, I couldn't miss an opportunity to hear some of those tracks live so that’s how I found myself seeing Armand Hammer twice in less than a week.

Gig number one was at The Old Hairdressers which is essentially someone’s attic above a bar and feels delightfully ramshackle. Glasgow’s Comfort were a good warm-up: an androgynous front person stomping around, getting in peoples faces and howling over glitching beats while a live drummer kept it all together with some simple yet powerful percussion. I really had never experienced anything quite like it so that particular performance left a big impression on me. Soon after, Armand Hammer came on to uproarious applause and delivered punch after punch of bewilderingly brilliant hip-hop goodness. The big songs from Paraffin sounded even bigger and we got a few of Billy Woods’ solo tracks thrown in for good measure. Annoyingly, the sound on the backing track was a bit booming which at times obscured the vocals but overall it was a very good time. Unfortunately, I had to leave early to catch my train home but I wasn’t too fussed as I knew I’d see them again in a matter of days.

Gig number two was at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh, an underground bar on the Cowgate, the bowels of the city’s old town. Support came from DJ Taye who had some technical glitches but still crafted some fairly decent beats (and some not so decent), showed off some of his insane dancing skills and threw in a bit of rap for good measure. Kenny Segal then followed up with some trippy, sample laden, glitching beats. It was a great set but for me, it did start to drag a little in the more ambient moments. Finally, Armand Hammer hit the stage again, performing a similar set to the Glasgow show but this time, on the Billy Woods solo tracks, Kenny Segal came on to replace the backing track with real beats, which was great to see live. Once again, though, the sound of the beats was quite booming and obscuring the vocals somewhat (even more so than at The Old Hairdressers) and at times, I genuinely found myself longing for earplugs to protect my ears.

It’s a shame that both of these gigs were marred slightly by sound issues and I’m unsure if this is typical of both venues as I’ve never been before. Despite the issues though, the talent of the performers and the quality of the songs shone through in the end and I was delighted to hear some of my favourite Armand Hamer songs live. Who knows when I’ll get to hear them again.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Armand Hammer: https://armandhammer.bandcamp.com/

Comfort: https://comfortglasgow.bandcamp.com/

DJ Taye: https://djtaye.bandcamp.com/

Kenny Segal: https://kennysegal.bandcamp.com/

S&M2: Metallica & San Francisco Symphony

VUE Cinema Omni, Edinburgh

11th October 2019

Something a little bit different this. To appease the mountains of fans who couldn’t get a ticket to this exciting sequel show, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the original landmark S&M concert, Metallica decided to release the full recorded performance in selected cinemas over a couple of days in October. Of course, I snapped up a ticket.

S&M was a seemingly one-off collaboration with a symphony orchestra that produced definitive versions of Metallica’s best songs (see Of Wolf And Man for instance). This time around, the band reportedly had more of a collaborative involvement with the arranger and composer and in theory, these new versions of the classic S&M material alongside new interpretations of other more recent songs, meld metal and classical music in a more cohesive way.

The set was split into two halves, opening in the same way as the original 1999 show with the Morricone epic “Ecstacy of Gold” leading into “Call of Ktulu”. I’ve always felt that Ktulu drags somewhat after that incredible opening and goes on for what seems like forever. The rest of the half was a bit of a mixed bag of old and new with varying degrees of success with highlights of “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, The Memory Remains” and “The Day That Never Comes” a really powerful song and a nice surprise.

Part two opened with a chance for the symphony to take centre stage with an instrumental piece. It was impressive but essentially just acted as a warm-up before the band returned, joining in for a rendition of “Iron Foundry” a futuristic and industrial classical piece that really benefitted from some thick, grunting metal accompaniment. This led into the absolute standout moment of the show, “Unforgiven III”. James Hetfield sans guitar, singing his heart out with a symphony backing was just a joy to behold, made even more heartwarming given the frontman had no idea what to do with his hands.

Many will point to the solo Cliff Burton tribute “(Anaesthesia) Pulling Teeth” as the biggest moment. Yes, it was a nice tribute to their former bandmate (whose classical influences on the band ultimately inspired the entire S&M concept) but ultimately it felt a bit self-indulgent on the part of the performer and didn’t hold my attention for long.

The final selection of tracks of “Wherever I May Roam”, “One”, “Master of Puppets”, “Nothing Else Matters” and “Enter Sandman” was as good a run of songs as you could expect and made for a thrilling second act.

Ultimately it was a good show, in a fairly strange setting and thrashing around to Metallica in a cinema seat was actually a lot of fun. I can’t wait for this to come out on DVD.

Don’t forget to check out the band:

Metallica: https://www.metallica.com/

Conjurer: w/ support from Armed for Apocalypse & Earth Moves

The Garage Attic, Glasgow

26th October 2019

Conjurer’s 2018 debut album “Mire” is a an absolute beast. It’s heavy as hell, it’s massive in scope, the riffing is outrageous, the vocals are unforgiving and the production job covers everything in a thick crust of dirt and grime. Needless to say this is a band I’ve been wanting to see for some time.

Support on the night came in the form of “Armed for Apocalypse” who I unfortunately missed and “Earth Moves” whose last couple of songs I did catch. I was extremely impressed by their single “Catatonic” which has some incredible drum sections in amongst the riffing and screaming that you can properly bop along to. Definitely worth checking out.

Conjurer themselves were impeccable. They stormed through renditions of “Choke”, “Hollow” (my personal favourite track from the album") and “Wretch”, amongst others, and finished with the cover of Mastodon’s “Blood and Thunder” that they’ve recently released on a “Holy Roar Records” split with “Palm Reader”. Conjurer are a band who put on a truly uncompromising show and if you want a taster of that, check out the Audiotree Live session below.

Keep an eye on these brutalists.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Conjurer: https://conjureruk.bandcamp.com/

Armed for Apocalypse: https://armedforapocalypse.bandcamp.com/

Earth Moves: https://earthmoves.bandcamp.com/

Thrice & Refused (Joint Headline Show): w/ support from Gouge Away

Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow

27th October 2019

It’s not often you get the chance to see two classic bands from your formative years (with support from a great up and coming new band) all in one night but that’s exactly what I got with this “Thrice X Refused” joint headline show.

I was a big fan of “Thrice” back in the day ever since I heard their sophomore album “The Illusion of Safety” in 2003. Their style of technical metal mixed with that heady post-hardcore mixture of clean singing and raw screaming really appealed to me. Their follow up albums “The Artist in the Ambulance” and “Vheissu” were both excellent but after that point, for me, they lost their way somewhat.

“Refused” were heavily on my radar too but not to quite the same extent. “The Shape of Punk to Come” is obviously a classic that I rinsed through but other than that I had a b-sides and rarities album with a banging cover of The Prodigy’s “Voodoo People”.

Support for these two heavy hitters came from Florida’s “Gouge Away” a furious hardcore band whose most recent album “Burnt Sugar” blew me away. Unsurprisingly for a band whose name comes from a Pixies song, they are also heavily influenced by a number of alternative rock bands.

On the night, the crowd was pretty scarce for “Gouge Away” and the sound from the mic wasn’t all that great. However, the band ultimately won the small crowd over with songs like “Ghost” with its unstoppable rolling bassline and “Only Friend” a bouncy, aggressive rampage of a song. The also did a cheeky Pixies cover for good measure. “Gouge Away” are a band that I’d been waiting to see for some time and they didn’t disappoint, I just need to see them as headliners now.

“Refused” took to the stage next, opening with “REV001”, an unstoppable banger from their new album. “War Music” isn’t a great album but there are a couple of decent tracks but typically, other than the opener, the crowd was a lot less enthusiastic for those tracks. We were treated to a tonne of classic tracks including “Rather Be Dead” during which the singer jumped into the crowd and crawled along the floor with the audience screaming the words at him…a moment made more incredible since 30 seconds previous he’d thrown the mic up and spectacularly failed to catch it. That’s how you entertain a crowd. The band finished on “New Noise” during which the entire crowd completely lost their shit. The set had its ups and downs but my god did they finish on a high!

During “Thrice” I was getting worried that I would need to leave to catch my train home before they finished and unfortunately that’s exactly what happened. However, that wasn’t before I got to see them perform “Image of the Invisible” (a belter from “Vheissu”) and “The Artist in the Ambulance” (just a fantastic time with tonnes of vocal and musical hooks). Looking back at the setlist, many of the other tracks I didn’t know, including the ones I missed. What I did see was good but didn’t have enough of the songs I was hoping for with “Deadbolt”, “To Awake and Avenge the Dead” and “The Abolition of Man” conspicuous in their absence. A good band but not quite the one I was hoping to get.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Thrice: http://thrice.net/

Refused: https://www.officialrefused.com/

Gouge Away: https://gougeawayfl.bandcamp.com/

Jamie Lenman: w/support from Megalomatic & Ithaca

The Caves, Edinburgh

24th November 2019

My second Jamie Lenman gig of 2019 made all the better by support from “Ithaca”, one of my favourite new bands. The Caves in Edinburgh is a tiny but stunning venue which helped make this a really intimate and exciting show to be a part of.

The first support act was Glasgow’s “Megalomatic” whose old-school brand of post-hardcore really piqued my interest. I also got a real Coheed and Cambria vibe from them at times. They were a little rough around the edges but they’re still a young band with plenty of time to hone their craft. That said, they were still really impressive with a small group of dedicated fans.

“Ithaca” released their fantastic debut album “The Language of Injury” at the beginning of 2019, and it’s still one of my favourite releases of the year, full of Blisteringly heavy and technical hardcore with stabbing riffs, brutal vocals and some absolutely massive songs. The likes of “Impulse Crush” hit hard with laser blasts of guitar, the walls of sound in “Secretspace” were terrifyingly powerful and THAT descending chord progression in “The Language of Injury” sounds enormous live. The vocal performance, in particular, was startling with lead singer Djamila Azzouz’s searing screams and ethereal howls making quite the impression but the backing vocals from the rest of the band, and their snarling stage presence added an extra layer of venom and aggression. What a great band.

As the main event, Jamie Lenman never fails to deliver. At this point, he has so many amazing songs in his back catalogue that every set has something different thrown in that you might not have been expecting. We were treated to some of the better-known tracks from “Shuffle” (Killer, She Bop), certified bangers from “Devolver” (Bodypoppin’, Hell in a Fast Car), the always incredible “I Ain’t Your Boy” from “Muscle Memory” and a slew of “Reuben” songs including “Deadly Lethal Ninja Assassin” (where the entire crowd did the harmonies) and the absolutely outrageous “Stuck in my Throat”. The set was also split into a mixture of electric and acoustic renditions as has become a mainstay of Jamie’s more recent performances. Very excellent.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

Jamie Lenman: http://www.jamielenman.com/

Megalomatic: https://megalomatic.bandcamp.com/

Ithaca: https://ithacauk.bandcamp.com/

PUP: w/support from Fresh & Sløtface

The Garage, Glasgow

26th November 2019

Probably my most anticipated gig of 2019. PUP’s album “Morbid Stuff” came out at the beginning of April and I finally got to see them live in late November. In between, I practically never stopped listening to the album. It’s incredibly good.

Support came from Fresh, a band I was keen to see after hearing their single “Going to Brighton”, and Sløtface, a band I’d never heard of.

Unfortunately for me, there was a bit of a disaster at the box office when collecting my tickets. The queue down the stairs at The Garage was enormous and despite arriving 20 minutes early, I missed most of Fresh’s set bar the last two songs. They sounded great but I was disappointed in having missed out through no fault of my own.

I did see the entirety of Sløtface’s set but unfortunately, the Norwegian band’s brand of danceable pop-punk wasn’t really for me. They were clearly an excellent band but it just didn’t hold my attention. Much of the crowd disagreed though and were going totally mad for it, responding to mosh calls from the band for songs that for me just weren’t powerful enough for a pit. The crowd clearly didn’t share my opinion.

After the disappointment of missing Fresh and the disappointment of not really vibing with Sløtface, PUP came on and fixed everything, putting on an incredible performance. The level of interaction from the crowd was impressive, with every single person shouting every single word back to the band and the songs from “Morbid Stuff” in particular have even more drive and energy in a live environment. The gig at its peak was utter chaos with constant mosh pits and a few bespectacled nerds scrabbling around looking for their shattered glasses (not me thankfully). Admittedly, I did feel a touch left out when they were playing songs from older albums but then that’s my fault for not being familiar enough with their back catalogue. If you’re a fan of PUP then you owe it to yourself to catch them live.

Don’t forget to check out the bands:

PUP: https://www.puptheband.com/

Fresh: https://freshpunks.bandcamp.com/

Sløtface: https://www.slotface.no/

Peace.