02/09/2021 - The Bluetones and Sleeper @ O2 Academy, Glasgow

19 months.  That's how long ago since my last gig was.  No explanation required as to why.  This gig was due to take place on the 20th of August 2020 and got put back a number of times.  Even in the week leading up to this I was waiting for the Scottish government to pull the plug on it due to an increase in rise of cases in Scotland.  But luckily all they announced was that vaccine passports will be required for big events.  But it was too soon to enforce it for this gig.
 
But the pre gig run up was slightly different in the fact we had to do a lateral flow test and record it on the day of the gig.  Then when we got to the venue, we had to show the email/text with the result and also wear masks when we were inside unless we were drinking.

 
But onto the bands.  No support acts. This was a joint headline tour for Sleeper and The Bluetones.  Campbell was there mainly to see Sleeper and I was there for The Bluetones.  The bands had been altering who headlined and I wasn't sure who I wanted to headline.  Tonight, it was Sleeper up first and took to the stage at 7.30.  I had listened to some of their stuff beforehand which sounded not bad.  They formed in 1992 and then split up in 1998 in which time they had 3 studio albums.  One of which was "Smart" which they were playing in full tonight for its 25th anniversary (plus a year).  When they got back together over the last few years they have now released 2 further albums.  Tonight, they got straight into it, and I was drawn in immediatley.  Louise Wener is such a great frontwoman as she has such great stage presence and charisma.  I did listen to "Smart" before the gig, but it is even better live.  What a band to witness for my first gig back after so long.

But they weren't done after finishing "Smart". They had a short break, then came back on and played a greatest hits set which must have been at least 30 odd minutes, possibly 40.  They have some great singles.  And they nailed a cover of Blondie's "Atomic". Finishing off with a track I recognised from long ago "Sale of the Century”.  It was such a good ending to the set I thought how could The Bluetones top that. It felt like such a climax to the evening.  In the end the set lasted an hour and 35 minutes with a short break which is decent considering the Bluetones got the same amount of time.

Bit of background to the Bluetones first.  They are one of my all-time favourite bands.  Although still touring, they haven't released an album since "A New Athens" in 2010 which was their 6th studio album.  Tonight, they were celebrating the 25th anniversary (plus 1 year) of "Expecting to Fly" which was their debut album.  They came on about 9.30 and delved headfirst into "Talking to Clarry" and sounded as good as ever. Well, I have only managed to see them once before which is when they toured "Luxembourg" up the road in the Garage.  My highlight from the album was "Putting out Fires" which comes straight after their mega hit "Slight Return".  Lead singer Mark does like to gab between songs and engages with the crowd well.  

Like Sleeper after they played the album, they had a short break and returned for greatest hits set.  Just to show the strength of The Bluetones back catalogue they played 3 singles which weren't even on albums; "Marblehead Johnson", "After Hours" and "Are you Blue or are you Blind".  "Solomon Bites the worm" particularly went down an absolute storm.  Then Mark singing "Every breath you take" by The Police while the rest of the band played to the tune of "If" was another highlight. This lasted a minute before Mark said the rest of the song doesn't really work so we'll leave it there much to everyone’s amusement.  But they returned to "If" immediatley and that was the last track of the night.  As I said before I wondered how The Bluetones would top Sleeper's grand finale. But they certainly did with "If" as it has such a great outro to the track and Mark had the audience in the palm of his hand much like he had done all night.

What a gig.  Two fantastic bands.  I do hope The Bluetones think about doing the same again for the 25th anniversary of "Return to Last Chance Saloon" next year and maybe bring along Sleeper again as they released The It girl in 96' and "Pleased to meet you" in 97's so either or both would do the trick. :-)

Photos by my gig buddy Campbell