Glasvegas @ Bottom Lounge - 4/06/09

Not to diminish the potential of a great band in the making,but... Imagine, if you will, a young Scottish band full of promise. They've goteverything working in their favor—a solid debut album, a major label willingto invest time and money touting them as 'the next big thing,' a dark andstylish vibe with a brooding singer who happens to be easy on the eyes. Amidall the propaganda and excitement, the band lands a prime US tour of majorcities, with most of those dates selling out in minutes.

So what happens when the band seems to crack just a little under all thatpressure? Well, it seems like that's exactly what happened at Bottom Lounge.Glasvegas has the potential to be amazing. Their sound is so perfectlycrafted—wall of sound feedback, 50s style vocals and angst so deep that youactually feel singer James Allan's heart breaking over and over again. I feltdisappointed in their live performance, and yet I realized I was being unfairto a band who has seen a meteoric rise in the last year or so, being honoredwith an NME Award before they even had an album out. They still need time tohone their live performance and capture the brilliance found on record.

Right away, I noticed Allan's vocals were a little off, and his reticentpersona belied the aggressive subject matter of the songs. But theinstrumentation was spot on, and that continued throughout the set. The songssounded good, but whatever element takes a song from good-to-great was missing.Set opener "Geraldine" was serviceable, but had they saved it forlater when they were warmed up a bit, it might have taken the leap into stellarterritory. Even the chanting of "Go Square Go" didn't feel as urgentas on record, when it most definitely had the potential to inspire madness inthe crowd.

Allan thanked the crowd repeatedly and seemed genuine in his quietappreciation. Whereas some may come off as snotty or arrogant, especially giventhe buzz around his band, Allan seemed shy and unsure of quite how to play therole of rock star despite having all the necessary equipment.

When the band re-appeared for a two-song encore, it felt like they'd finallyhit their stride with the set closing "Daddy's Gone." The audiencewas left with the feeling that they may have just witnessed greatness in themaking, just not fully realized quite yet.