LIVE REVIEW: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Cords, Hug and Pint, Glasgow, 13/11/2025
New York indie-pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have only just reformed for a short UK tour. With tonight’s show at the Hug & Pint on Great Western Road in Glasgow being a warm-up show for the upcoming tour that is the 15th anniversary of the release of debut album The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Strangely enough they head down to the Liverpool Arts Club for a show the following night before returning to Glasgow to play a headline show at Stereo, the very fact that they chose Glasgow for the warm-up show proves how much the band enjoy playing in the city. TPOBPAH have promised to play the 2009 debut album in full alongside a few other hits and there is a right buzz about the basement venue that holds no more than one hundred and twenty people.
It’s a later start at 8.30pm as support band The Cords take to the stage in front of an already packed-out room, the two-piece band are sisters from Inverkip, under an hour down the coast from Glasgow in Inverclyde, they have been building a decent following since the release of debut album The Cords back in September. This is our first time seeing the band and after listening to them on the train on the way up to Glasgow we were really looking forward to seeing them. The sisters Eva and Grace Tedeschi and are showing great promise on the local music scene, opener Fabulist sets the tone for the half-hour set, singer Eva looks as if she has been doing this for years and is cool, calm and collected. The chord changes are happening instantaneously, all the hallmarks of a decent guitarist … and the vocals remind us so much of Molly Rankin from the Canadian band Alvvays, that’s not a bad comparison then. New track I’m Fond Of You is sounding great live whilst I’m So Sad is an 80s throwback tune, maybe their parents musical influences are kicking in here? Liar is another new one that is played at high intensity in almost punk style, yeah most of the songs are short and sweet but that did mean they could cram more tunes in during the half-hour. When You Say Goodbye is the best of the set along with Bo’s New Haircut, the crowd seem to be enjoying The Cords and the band thank TPOBPAH for inviting them along tonight … we are glad that they did. This band have so much promise at such a young age. They have already toured with bands such as BMX Bandits and Camera Obscura so their talents are definitely being recognised already. 9/10
This is only the second show since reforming for TPOBPAH, they played Chicago a few days before heading to Glasgow, they now have three original members in Kip Berman (vocals & guitar), Alex Naidus (bass) and Peggy Wang (keyboards & vocals) with Christoph Hochheim (guitar) and touring drummer Brian Alvarez making up the five members. We love the fact that debut album The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart will be played in full AND in sequence tonight. It’s a highly-charged start to the sixteen-track set with Contender and Come Saturday, lots of head nodding going on around us! We have the best view in the house standing on a wooden bench to the left of the stage. The brilliantly titled Young Adult Friction is next up, one of the best of the night, Kip Berman is showing his class on both vocals and guitar already whipping the crowd into a frenzy while This Love Is Fucking Right! keeps the energy high in the room. The Tenure Itch has sound problems and allows Kip to tell us about his love of Teenage Fanclub, a well-known Glasgow band and the fact that he has one of their t-shirts on tonight.
Stay Alive is another of those songs that grab you straight in the chest, this music really does transport back to the 1980s while A Teenager In Love begins with David Bowie Modern Love vibes and is a special moment from the set. Peggy Wong on keyboards is like an energy bubble throughout the set and the backing vocals are also very heart-warming … a decent keyboard player is always a win-win for us! The first part of the set ends with Hey Paul and Gentle sons but they are soon back on the stage playing a six-track encore which kicks off with Higher Than The Stars, a keyboard led song and an absolute gem to hear live … this is the one that grabs us emotionally tonight. The encore passes so quickly with Say No To Love and Ramona getting the crowd moving at last. Heart In Your Heartbreak and Belong are taken from the Belong album and the set ends with the title track from the debut album The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. It ends a night of music that had everything that we expected and more. We hope to see TPOBPAT back in Glasgow in the near future. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
