Photo Credit: Pat Pope
With more and more 1990s brit-pop bands reforming in recent years we were delighted when Gene decided to join the comeback show, here is a band that have been on our bucket list to see live for thirty years … the day has finally arrived and we couldn’t have asked for a better venue than the old historic Barrowland Ballroom situated in the heart of the famous ‘Glesga Barras’. We can confirm that frontman Martin Rossiter has lost none of his charm from back in the day.
A short delay in gaining entry meant that we missed a few tracks from the support – none other than James Walsh of Starsailor fame – a band we saw in this very venue just back in November and still very fresh in the memory. As we entered one of our top songs Four To The Floor was just beginning, James is on stage himself tonight armed with only an acoustic guitar, as he was when we also saw him perform up at the Woodlands Stage at Kendal Calling last July. The penultimate track of the set is also a big Starsailor one, Silence Is Easy while it is a Neil Young cover of Heart Of Gold that delights the crowd that must have numbered well over one thousand by the end of the set. He ends by wishing Scotland well in the upcoming football World Cup and pays tribute to Janey Godley, the comedienne who passed away last year.
Having only reformed in 2025 the Gene line-up has remained almost the same as the 1993-2004 era, joining vocalist Martin Rossiter are Steve Mason (guitar), Kevin Miles (bass), Matt James (drums) and Mick Talbot on keyboards, Mick was the co-founder of The Style Council alongside the legend that is Paul Weller way back in 1982 and also toured with Gene between 1999 and 2001. The show isn’t far off being sold out tonight with the crowd being mostly of the older generation, Rossiter looks sharp in his light blue suit and slicked back hair but most importantly his vocals sound exactly as they did back in the day as we could hear immediately during the opening song Be My Light, Be My Guide, the show almost feels nostalgic with a good proportion of the crowd singing back every word to the stage. The first three songs are taken from the To See The Lights Album with Sick, Sober & Sorry and This Is Not My Crime being the two besides the aforementioned track. We Could Be Kings is an early contender for the best of the set, Matt on drums is doing a double job with backing vocals and he is very impressive we have to say, later in the set he even gets the guitar our proving that he is a very talented all round musician.
Martin Rossiter is a great story teller and before Truth, Rest Your Head he tells us about when they played the song live on Chris Evans TFI Friday show back in the 1990s, our favourite Gene album has to be a toss up between the 1995 compilation Olympian or 1997’s Drawn To The Deep End, we get a fine balance of tracks from both with six from each being a good return from the twenty-three song set. The three songs from Drawn To The Deep End that are played in succession cement that album as the one that digs up the most emotion, Where Are They Now? Save Me I’m Yours and Speak To Me Someone all being standouts from the set, comparisons have always been made between Martin Rossiter and Morrisey, it is the music from that late 1990s period that confirms this.
Haunted By You and Olympian are very special moments tonight with the crowd participation being exceptional, we are delighted that there are not one but two encores, the first one has London, Can You Wait? For The Dead and Fighting Fit before we have a couple of minutes to get our breath back. Rossiter is back on stage by himself on keyboard for Drawn To The Deep End, a track that strangely didn’t appear on the album of the same name, this one sends shivers through the spine. Is It Over? and Sleep Well Tonight end an incredible set that went on for almost two hours.
We would love to see Gene permanently reform, the fanbase is already there as has been proven during this tour and maybe even some new music would be nice … but if not this guy can now wallow in the satisfaction of finally seeing a band that I waited so long to see live, long live Gene. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
