LIVE REVIEW: The Snuts, The Volts, Kerr Mercer, Barrowland, Glasgow, 28/02/2024
West Lothian’s finest were back for night two of their sold out Barrowland Ballroom Millennials album launch shows where we were promised to hear The Snuts play the ten album tracks in full which is very impressive considering it was only released five days before the two shows. Fans had travelled the length and breadth of the UK to be here tonight to hear the songs being played live and there were a good few hundred fans in the ballroom as the first support of tonight Kerr Mercer took to the stage. The young Glaswegian held his nerve as he rattled through an impressive set easily moving from playing acoustically to the keyboard which he did throughout the twenty five minutes on stage. Mercer had some family and a few supporters in the crowd and they shouted encouragement as he worked through his tracks Timeless, Carry Me Home and Sinking Slowly which went down really well with The Barras crowd as he courageously sang about mental health as expressed in the lyrics “I say I’m fine but I’m sinking slowly”. There was a connective moment with the fans when Mercer played a cover of the Tom Odell song Another Love, an instantly recognisable track that was sang back to him by the crowd as he showed off his keyboard and vocal talents. If marketed properly this young man has a massive future in the music industry! 8/10
The Snuts are known to showcase local talent and tonight’s main support The Volts are also from West Lothian, which seems to be producing an endless stream of music talent in recent years. The four members of the band played a very energetic and powerful set which was perhaps fuelled by the bottles of Buckfast wine that were being drank on stage! The venue was just about full as the band showcased some new tracks as well as playing their latest single A Million Different Reasons which went down well with the crowd but for us the last song Take Me To That Place was the standout during the half hour set. 8/10
The place was bouncing in anticipation of The Snuts making an appearance which they duly did at 9.15pm to excited screams and shouts from their fanbase. The first part of the show would be the ten tracks from Millennials which was released on 23rd February and as we write has just entered the album chart at number two but more on that later. The set opened with Novastar and Millionaires, two outstanding tracks from the album with frontman Jack Cochrane putting everything into the performance. The big release from last summer Gloria had the crowd going wild and was quickly followed by Dreams which would have been the first time most of the fans in tonight would have heard it live and the reaction was massive with just about everyone in the room dancing and singing along. Deep Diving and Circles ended the album set and the band left the stage to a massive applause and excitement for what was to come next. We don’t think anyone expected what happened next as a Rod Stewart impersonator took to the stage and sang Wake Up Maggie. Some media had wrongly reported the previous night that it was the actual Rod Stewart that played on stage but it was part of a wind up by The Snuts as the album race for number one reached fever pitch, this was class as usual from the band!
The second part of the show would be nine classic hits starting off with What’s Going On from The Matador EP which had a rare live outing. Once again the crowd had a meltdown as we all sang back the chorus to the stage causing mayhem around the ballroom. Three songs from the 2022 album Burn The Empire album were played starting with an extended version of Hallelujah Moment, Knuckles and Maybe California. The nineteen track set ended with the every popular Seasons and Glasgow and as we got the chance to jump around and sing for one last time tonight amid wild scenes. As the fans left the venue we all felt that we had just witnessed something special and knowing that The Snuts are currently Scotland’s most popular band. They are signed up for a few of the UK festivals this summer and we would highly recommend getting along to see their set if your lucky enough to be going to any. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
