CELTIC CONNECTIONS
John Grant
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Russell Leadbetter
Five stars
REASONS to love John Grant: his sonorous voice, the brutal candour, dark humour and acute sense of vulnerability in his lyrics, his winning way with a melody. One further reason: his current live show.
The one-time Czars singer has found the success he has long deserved on the back of three well-received solo albums but he does not take it for granted. There was a genuinely touching moment here when, acknowledging the rapturous applause for GMF, one of his finest songs, he grinned broadly, raised both arms aloft and gave an ecstatic thumbs-up. It is hard not to warm to him.
A big, burly, bearded figure, Grant alternated between mic duties and stints at the keyboard - sometimes both in the space of a single song. And what songs: the beguiling piano figure and sweetshop references of Marz; the striking title tracks of his last two albums, Pale Green Ghosts and Grey Tickles, Black Pressure; the funky and lascivious Snug Slacks (with its great aside about Joan Baez making the notorious punk performer G.G. Allin looking like Charlene Tilton).
His band, including the Banshees' former drummer Budgie, propelled several songs, most notably several from the most recent album, into a stirring electro-funk cacophony. Other highlights included Disappointing (its title makes it sound like a Pet Shop Boys song) and You and Him.
Grant re-started Voodoo Doll, the first of four encores ("I want to get this right") and rounded off with No More Tangles and Outer Space. Finally, he was gone. It had been quite a show.
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