Bedlam in Glasgow
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2006
1
74
100
Trip End
Sep 08, 2008
Glasgow,
Scotland,
United Kingdom
Monday, March 10, 2008
I didn't get much of a chance to settle as we quickly ventured out into Merchant City, the 'trendy' part of Glasgow for some dinner. Following this Steve took me on a wee pub crawl in the west end. In order to get there, we had to take a ride on the rickety Glasgow underground, supposedly the third oldest in the world. At times it was difficult to hear each other with the wheels grating on the century old steel tracks. However, we stayed on the rails and eventually emerged not far from 'The Loft', a former theatre now with a cinema theme, backed by huge placards of The Gremlins and the new Indiana Jones movie. After a beer here we continued on to an even older Scottish pub, an ale house known as 'Tennants'. It was a good, albeit quiet night out, affording me the chance to see a part of Glasgow I missed during my two month stay in Edinburgh the previous summer.
The following day wasn't much of a holiday, as Steve went to work and I forced myself to catch up on the uni work I'd missed during the previous few days. Nevertheless, I was quietly excited about the Mars Volta show that evening, my first major concert since DJ Shadow in Melbourne back in July 2006. After another veggie burger and pint with Steve in Merchant City we jumped back on the old subway for a short ride over to the southside. The gig was at the Carling Academy, a great venue which may also once have been a theatre.
To be honest, the Mars Volta weren't one of my favourite bands, but following the release of their fourth album, 'Bedlam in Goliath' I began to get right into their progressive rock anthems. I liked the feel of the venue, very unpretentious, and with a good vibe around the place. With his wildly afro haircut that made Hendrix look like a skinhead, frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala led the band out about 8pm without any fanfare or support act. And for the next three hours they played without a break. An almost continuous medley of tracks from their entire backlog without so much as a word to the audience, with Thomas Pridgen on drums godlike. I was beginning to get a bit sore on my feet (and in my ears) towards the end, after which they ended the set with only slightly more of an impact than which they begun, as Cedric said "They told us we gotta stop playing now. We'd play for two days if we could."
It was a top night, and a fantastic gig, the likes of which I hadn't seen before. I spent the next morning doing a little more uni work before I jumped on a bus back to Edinburgh for my late afternoon flight to Katowice. It was a long haul back to Wroclaw, taking almost 12 hours, but well worth it. It was a great couple of days with Steve, showing him around Krakow, hiking in the pristine and rugged Tatra mountains, and witnessing one of the best live performances I've ever seen.
