Still haven’t been able to shake this thing back into action
but I made it out two nights in a row on Thursday and Friday. Two shows, two
duos. Dynamicly intact.
It was the welcome return of Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby to
Glasgow. As always, the audience should have been bigger but those that were
there were treated to this unique experience. Nobody else does what they do and
even if they did, they wouldn’t come close to this level of entertainment.
That’s what they do, they entertain. It’s not a choreographed chunk with the
same banter at every show. It’s always tailored to the moment. It’s a pleasure
to witness and hear. They deserve to be appreciated far more widely but these
two are resigned to the slog. One day the world will catch up. It has to. The
set closer of “Leaving On A Jet Plane” indicated what that would have sounded
like had it been tackled by yon Velvet Underground for the third album. By the
time it wound out, the meleé could well have come from VU and Nico.
So it was a late finish early on Friday morning. Once those
Wrigbys headed for Gateshead, I returned to the reality of phone-rassling.
So by the time it got to the evening, the consideration of
dragging myself into Edinburgh. Had I considered that the town would be chocka
with rugby supporters, it may well not have happened. However, I flaked out the
last time I was supposed to catch The Creeping Ivies so I figured extra effort
should be made. The last time I was in The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh was when
Amy (Rigby) played there with her daughter Hazel. And strangely, I’d just
talked to Hazel when her mom called her from here in the bunker.
Anyway, it’s a nice room and the Ivies were on a 4 band bill
sweetened for me by a 10pm curfew. I
missed the first one. The second one wasn’t too offensive but the third one
kind of was. I won’t name names but completely the kind of thing that
exasperates me. Ironically desecrating the Boney M songbook is a pretty lame
schtick but they had an entourage, one of which introduced them and I’m still
trying to uncurl my toes.
The Creeping Ivies are very possibly the best “new” combo in
Scotland. The two person group formation has thrown up much that I can’t take
more than 10 minutes of. I include The White Stripes in that. But these kids
have a magic ingredient, they also look great in addition to making a low down
shakin’ chill-inducing racket. They’re honing their chops right now as they
impatiently wait for vinyl copies of their “Stay Wild” album to drop.
This is an analog noise that sounds OK in a digital format
but they were born to make slabs of wax. Their “Rock’n’Roll Party” EP is
begging to be unleashed as a 7” example of the way it can still be done. The
best thing about ‘em is that they’re not contrived. There’s a genuine magic
that can’t be plotted via the modular antics that so many employ.
So I was glad I caught them finally. They exceeded
expectation and I don’t experience that sensation too often.