Extreme Listening Mode!

The solo album. As we have already written on ELM they can be a mixed bag. Some are very very good, some are very very bad but it’s always interesting to see what direction the artist takes in the live arena. Some point-blank refuse to draw from their band’s back catalogue, instead rather selfishly assuming that you are here simply to hear the new album, when generally it’s despite that. Some grudgingly embrace it with two or three numbers tossed away lightly in the encore. But it’s always a fraught evening until you realise which side of the fence the act will come down.

Looking for all the world like a slightly younger and slightly less bonkers Phil Spector, Gary Louris arrives on stage, guitar in hand and harmonica slung over his neck, ready to deliver. He is relaxed in that peculiar fashion which only comes with experience; after all, after nigh-on 20 years as frontman with The Jayhawks, one of country-rock’s most enduring and endearing band, he has little to prove to anyone here. Glasgow is a city strangely in thrall to the delights of alt.country – it has it’s own thriving scene (a fact Louris acknowledges) and tonight, he’s amongst friends. He kicks off with couple of nice tunes from his new album ‘Vagabonds’, but it’s clear what the crowd want to hear. ‘You don’t really wanna hear this stuff, do you?’ he says laconically, to which the crowd politely insist no, we do. But when he starts delivering classics from his back catalogue, well, any pretence goes out the window. ‘Stumbling Through the Dark’ is greeted like a long-lost relative brandishing a large cheque. The crowd add the harmony parts (rather well, actually) on ‘Save It For A Rainy Day’ while ‘Tailspin’ and ‘I’m Gonna Make You Love Me’ are simply superb.

Best of all, and beautifully illustrating how un-self-conscious he is, he even dips into his band’s alter ego Golden Smog for the fabulous ‘Until You Came Along’, the best song Kris Kristofferson never wrote. 90 minutes of this and it’s over, the best sign being that the crowd are audibly disappointed as he leaves. So bucking the trend (as he has for most of his career) Louris thumbs his nose at inessential solo work and delivers a real masterclass in songwriting and performance. Utterly spellbinding and always interesting, he’s streets ahead of his competition still.