The ACSOM Review: Shed Seven at O2 Academy, Glasgow

Who: Shed Seven

Where: O2 Academy Glasgow

When: 30 November 2019

Shed Seven then.

I never owned a single record of theirs back in the day (the mid-90s for the non-Indie-Da’s among us). And back in the day you couldn’t listen to Spotify, YouTube or any other music platform to queue up their latest release. So, how was it that I left the Academy last Saturday with a big grin and hoarse voice from singing along to most of the set?

Clearly some kind of ‘Shedmosis’ had to have happened during all those boozy nights in bars and clubs around Glasgow, like The Garage (upstairs in the Attic natch) and Fury Murrays.

The band hit the stage to rapturous applause. So much so you would be forgiven for thinking this gig was in the band’s home town of York. They launched straight into things with a relatively new song, 2017’s Room in my House, which set the template for the night. Rick Witter has not lost any of his swagger and his voice was as strong as ever. The band put out a heavy rocking sound and didn’t let up all night. They followed up with two stormers from the early years, Speakeasy and Where Have You Been Tonight? I readily admit, I sang along.

The rest of the night was peppered with their greatest hits, with Getting Better and Going for Gold being particular standouts. The sound was enhanced further by a brass trio hitting the stage for these and a handful of other songs, to the delight of the crowd. In between tunes, Witter gave a few shout outs to gig-goers who had got in touch via Twitter. At one point he jumped down into the front row to let punters sing along… “You forgot the words didn’t you?”

The band left the stage to huge applause and it did not take long for the encore demands to start ringing around the venue. Witter led his men back on stage and promised three more songs. Number two in the final part of the set was Disco Down. The long instrumental intro lent itself perfectly to a chant of “Here we f*cking go” and the singer seemed genuinely impressed as he stood agog, watching the crowd build up to the rousing verse and chorus. The final song of the night was the ever-popular Chasing Rainbows, which once more had the crowd singing along and indeed carrying on long after the band had left the stage.

Nostalgic? Yes. Entertaining? Most definitely.

Setlist:

Room in my House

Speakeasy

Where Have You Been Tonight?

Devil in your Shoes

Enemies & Friends

Ocean Pie

Dolphin

Better Days

On Standby

Getting Better

It’s not Easy

High Hopes

Bully Boy

Going for Gold

Parallel Lines

Invincible

Disco Down

Chasing Rainbows

Andrew Rafferty