Photo Credit: Cameron Brisbane
A couple of days before Ayrshire’s finest VUKOVI played at SWG3 they circulated a poster on social media in the style of a movie promo: MY GOD HAS PULLED THE PLUG, starring Janine Shilstone and Hamish Reilly, fuck you Scottish Power, afters at the Catty? Well it was fookin one of yas, Barras next. Let’s decipher all that information before we proceed… The original show in March was cancelled halfway through unpeople’s set due to a power cut, hence the criticism of Scottish Power, they then confirm an after-party at Glasgow’s Cathouse and finally confirm that they want to play the iconic Barrowland Ballroom next … here’s hoping! The band also produced special merchandise around this.
Janine and Hamish were back for round two with Lake Malice as support this time around. We were lucky enough to see them support RØRY last month and even had an opportunity to have an interview. Due to train delays we only caught one track from the first support band Fog Bandits, they looked a lively bunch on the stage. Brighton duo Lake Malice are Alice Guala and Blake Cornwall who played a memorable half-hour set to warm the growing crowd for what was ahead. These two musicians don’t like standing still for a second, they both have incredible on-stage energy that filters through to the audience who are moving from the word go as they work through a seven-track set starting with Blossoms, Magic Square and the one we are listening to a lot recently Mitsuko, Blake is down amongst the crowd helping to stir them up … they respond as expected, well it is a Friday night in Glasgow after all! Latest release Scatterbrain sounds great live as does a new track Nobody Wants To Be You, a song that may well feature on the debut Lake Malice album when it is released. Most people would be seeing them live for the first time tonight and we are sure that they created a good enough impression on the crowd to be invited back on tour sometime. The set ends with Stop The Party and Bloodbath, we will be hearing much more from Lake Malice. 8/10
The Galvanizers Hall was now completely packed out as we awaited the VUKOVI rematch and bang on 9pm they took to the stage with wild scenes all around, the set kicked off with three tracks from the latest album MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN – THIS IS MY LIFE AND MY TRAUMA, GUNGHO and MISTY ECSTASY being the songs – and vocalist Janine Shilstone is wearing the same bodysuit that she wore in the video for MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN. It really is a blistering start to what will be a seventeen track set, guitarist Hamish Reilly is running around the stage with the energy of a twenty one year-old whopping the crowd into a frenzy. The show is just an almost continuous mosh and it’s not long until the crowd surfing begins, the crowd are definitely up for this one tonight. We then head back to the NULA album for a couple of tracks in SLO and LASSO as Janine takes swigs of a particular tonic wine that is popular in these parts (Buckfast!), Colour Me In is played in a more laid back acoustic fashion tonight with Janine getting close up to the crowd while we are lucky enough to experience the live debut of one of the new tracks FALLEN BEYOND that sound as good live as it does on record.
By the time we get to hear the title track MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN, Alice from Lake Malice is back on the stage to sing alongside Janine and goes one step further by crowd surfing, everyone is having the times of the lives here! Not to be outdone Janine also joins in on the crowd surfing as she declares to the crowd “don’t fucking drop me”, they didn’t … She has such a special bond with the fans tonight and that will help to ready them for (we hope) a night on the spring floor of the Barrowland Ballroom. Somehow I EXIST takes things to another level as we all join in one last massive circle pit to take the atmosphere through the roof, this is followed by Run/Hide and what was a contender for the best of the set in La Di Da, the band’s most streamed song with over ten million streams at the last count. This was our first time seeing VUKOVI live tonight and we were taken aback with how passionate their crowd are as well as the incredible performance all three band members put on. Barrowland here we come! 10/10
Check out our interview with Lake Malice here!
Written by: Alan Brown
