Kyle Falconer, Glasgow review: "strong pop vocals ringing out"
Kyle Falconer’s 17th appearance at a beloved Glasgow venue was a typically sweaty affair, writes Fiona Shepherd
As frontman of The View, Kyle Falconer holds King Tut’s house record of six consecutive sold-out shows. To this tally, he added a not-too-shabby two sold-out solo gigs to mark the release of his latest album, Lovely Night of Terror. In all, this was his 17th appearance at the beloved Glasgow landmark – and he still couldn’t quite get the clothing right, forgetting that a Falconer-fronted Tut’s show quickly becomes a sweaty affair.
Lovely Night of Terror is a social album, featuring many guest vocalists, from Peter Doherty to Justin Hawkins of The Darkness. None were in attendance on this occasion but as part of his band Falconer did have multi-tasking guitarist Drew Palmer to share some of the vocal responsibilities.
He opened with the Hawkins collaboration, Worlds Away, his strong pop vocal ringing out before the indie frontman in him took over for a progressively more raucous delivery. There was no difficulty in spotting The View songs with the infernally catchy likes of Grace eliciting much stomping, whooping and finger stabbing in the crowd.
Other solo tracks such as the rollicking Family Tree and Stress Ball received an encouragingly enthusiastic reaction, with Falconer continuing to push those vocals alongside a brief burst of guitar heroics. The rootsy beat-flavoured The Therapist also suggested the emotional turmoil from which some of these songs have sprung but Falconer’s coping mechanism was to get it all out in a display of punky verve.
Palmer broke out some soulful jazz trumpet with Falconer on semi-acoustic guitar for Covers; later, he took the chance to get lost in some Lindsay Buckingham-inspired riffola. There was no encore; instead Falconer blasted through View favourites Face for the Radio and Same Jeans, his anthem for unwashed youth, before leaving on a bonus cover of Oasis’s Half the World Away.
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