Its Friday rush hour. I’m desperate to pick up Stu and get out the town. the city lights of Glasgow are calling. The ABC awaits. As I look in the rearview mirror Falkirk fades away. Nothing draws me to our local music scene now.
I pick up Stu, there is almost a quiet excitement as he loads his trusted Gibson into the boot of the car. We set off, chatting about the night to come and the future of the band. The new album, the new tunes and gigs. We want to play live, this sort of excitement can’t be matched.
The roads to the city are fine and we arrive promptly at the venue. Stu and I park up, Derek has a face that could make a pitbull back down, Greg is laid back and chilled out. Usual. The reason for Derek’s ire? We’ve been placed second on the running order of five bands. Thankfully after a bit of Del boy negotiation we’re placed third on the bill. Our faithful fans won’t miss us after all.
We stepped back stage to see End Transmission. It was good to see the girls again, great to see them playing these types of gigs. They had the hair straighteners out and more beer than us. They sounded good, nailed a good set it was a pity to see them on first though. Second on was a really pleasant chap and his guitar with no backing band. Takes guts to do that. Unfortunately I can’t recall his name.
Setlist
Speak
Joker
Wonder
Miss Asphyxia
Power
Steel
Industry
Derek kicked things off with the pounding toms of Speak, Its the best way to start a gig, gets me hyper. I pick the first notes, sing the first line and it all flows. We have a few dancers, I love that. I just makes me want go full pelt into the songs. Every note screamed, every lick nailed. In a second Speak is over and Greg is carving out the intro of Joker. Great start for us. the crowd is brilliant. Some of the folks know the tunes now and its great to hear people yell as the song starts. What a buzz. Wonder gives us a breather, we say hello to the utterly wonderful people who pay and travel to see us. Every moment of our performance is for them. Our next song is Miss Asphyxia, brand new. We get another great reception. A hint of the next album before we go back to our current set. Power is the quietest moment of the night. Gives our set a wee dynamic, breaks things up a bit. Steel is next, it all goes well. its a tricky song for me to play live but I get through it. Industry finally gets its live debut. An extended version of this song for our friend Phil. Its a great end to the set. We pack up as Don’t Look Down enter the stage. I have a quick look back to the stage as we had behind the scenes. Top gig.
Don’t Look Down rock the roof off, Enemies of The State also had a very accomplished sound. I was working the next day so It wasn’t so bad hanging around listened to two decent bands.
Last orders we’re called and the crowd drift away. Another cracking night for our band. As midnight approaches I drive along the deserted road back to Falkirk I hope we have many more nights just like this.
Pabs.
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