JOHN GRANT LIVE AT GLASGOW’S BARROWLANDS

★★★★☆ (4/5)

JOHN GRANT PERFORMING AT GLASGOW’S BARROWLANDS
PHOTOCREDIT: JOHN MACKIE

John Grant is an American musician, formerly of the band Czars, he broke through with his solo albums in and has maintained a large following thanks to his consistently strong music full of sardonic wit amongst heavy emotional themes.

Tonight, he storms a busy Barrowlands. The set is mostly focused on songs from his latest album the funky The Art of the Lie. Opener All That School for Nothing captures this best, a lengthy rhythmic workout with a propelling drum beat and space age sounding keyboards. It feels like it has proper funk chops almost like something by Parliament/Funkadelic but with added John Grant’s trademark humour. This evening John Grant is for the most point joined by 3 musicians giving a full sound adding, a lot of The Art of the Lie material sounds influence by the Talking Heads and the keyboards, synths and the percussion sound fantastic.

Midway through the show John takes to the piano delivering a powerful version of Glacier from the solo breakthrough album Pale Green Ghosts. Glacier is a powerful pean of togetherness and strength for those discriminated against because of their sexuality. It’s awestriking to hear live these prescient lyrics and it is a definite highlight. His deep gentle bellowing voice is a highlight throughout, particularly evident on a solo version of Pale Green Ghosts. Further solo songs go down well before the band return.

John plays to the crowd, talking about how he loves the sense of humour of Glaswegians and declaring the Barrowlands the best venue in the world. The crowd lap this up just as much as the music. Meek AF is more funk and it nails its colours to the political mask ragging on the right wing and homophobia with a furious intensity. While Father showcases John Grant heartfelt side a delicate ballad, about the dynamics between a father and a son.

An encore is completed by GMF, which is the loudest sing along of the night. After a truly resplendent performance John Grant and band mates leave the Barrowlands to rapturous applause.