You’d be spoilt for choice for gigs on this rainy Sunday in Glasgow, I was lucky enough to finally catch an artist I’ve been wanting to see perform live for years when Liverpool’s Louis Berry took to the stage at Stereo.
Declan Byrne
Local lad Declan Byrne kicked things off, performing a few original tracks as well as covers of ‘Dakota,’ Caledonia’ and ‘Kampfire Vampire’ complete with harmonica. His original tracks have a Jake Bugg quality and he possesses a very big voice, one to watch for sure.
The Rah’s
The main support for the evening came in the form of East Lothian’s finest rockers The Rah’s. I’ve been familiar with these lads for a while now but this was my first time seeing them live and they live up to the hype. Between drummer Neale Gray’s glorious moustache, singer Jack Mcleod’s Irn Bru endorsement and his dance moves during “She’s Not,” these boys are great to watch and an absolute pleasure to listen to. The second album is on the way and whilst there is no timescale as far as I’m aware, the crowd were given a preview of one track, “I’ve Never Been Wrong.” A very rock ‘n’ roll track, reminiscent of Stereophonic’s Superman. The power chords, the big solo and those heavy vocals, oh it’s a good one. I look forward to catching a headline show at some point in 2023.
Louis Berry
Time for the main event as Louis Berry burst onto the stage slamming straight into his 2015 tracks “.45” & “Rebel.” A frantic start which continued into fan favourite “Molly Malone”, Louis taking every opportunity to praise the crowd. The pace was slowed down a little through the next few tracks, the band taking shots of whisky in-between songs much to the delight of the crowd. Louis spoke several times of his love of Glasgow throughout the set. That love was put into words just this month with the release of his latest track “Caledonia” which obviously received a huge reaction from the crowd. Especially at the point when the River Clyde is name dropped.
There’s a mix of old songs and still unreleased songs throughout. Songs like “25 Reasons” and “Laurie” get the crowd moving and singing along. But it’s songs like “Old Guitar” and “Glory” with their emotional, truthful lyrics that prove just how incredible a songwriter Louis is. I’ve heard him talk a great deal in an interview about his grandfather being his biggest influence and you can feel that in these songs, it’s powerful stuff. The set was closed off with two fan favourites, “Restless” and “She Wants Me.” What was great to see was the look on, not just Louis’ face but on the faces of his backing band too. They all clearly had an absolute blast on that stage just like every person in that crowd.