Aussie indie-rockers Pacific Avenue return to Glasgow to take on one of the city’s most iconic grassroots venues – on a Tuesday, no less.
I always love climbing the star-studded steps of King Tuts – noticing the bands I’ve seen play arena or stadium shows and feeling that itch of excitement. If they started here, what kind of night am I in for? Could I be witnessing the early days of a future legend?
Glasgow was the second stop on PACIFIC AVENUE’s tour across the UK, celebrating the release of Lovesick Sentimental, their indie-rock exploration of relationships. Despite having been around since 2017, this is their second album, and it was dropped a week earlier than announced. Usually playing across Australia, it was a rare treat seeing them head across the pond and everyone here knew it.
Kicking off the celebration was London-based retro quintet HOT PROPERTY. This band is small but fast-rising, and when they step on stage you just know what kind of night you’re in for before they even begin playing. Every band member has a distinctive 70’s style, and when the first riffs rang out, pure rock ‘n’ roll filled every crevice of the room. They had endless joy and energy from the word go, consistently encouraging the crowd to participate. During Saddle Up, they requested the room sing the lyrics, with frontman GABRIEL CORRIGAN insisting “I’m sure you’ll get it,” which – to the band’s credit – most people did. Playing an unreleased track of theirs, American Circus, they really did succeed in their job of setting the tone for the evening. At first they were met with the shyness that you often find in small rooms when the band is on early, but by the end they had people dancing and bobbing along, which isn’t an easy job at all. Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll!
With a small intermission, allowing everyone in the now crowded room to scamper over to the merch booth conveniently set up next to the bar, the venue was now packed to the brim and appropriately sweaty. As the members of PACIFIC AVENUE bounced onstage with a contagious joyfulness – their ray-of-sunshine personas immediately lit up the room as they began with Things We Wanna Say.
“The Glaswegian accent is actually the best in the world,” guitarist BEN FRYER joked, before adding “so if you sing along, it’s actually a treat for us.” This acknowledgement had the room erupt in cheers, and got the excitable crowd to sing every word of Strawberry Daydream. This energy continued throughout the set, reaching a peak as frontman HARRY O’BRIEN led the room through a surprisingly upbeat cover of DJO’s End of Beginning, grinning ear-to-ear the whole way through.
As we reached the end of their set, much of the crowd seemed confused. They closed with Something Good – which the night certainly was – but the lack of encore was surprising. Due to an issue with the venue advertising the night finishing at 10.30, but the band wrapping up at 10, if you looked around the room after they played this song, you were met with a sea of confused faces. People only started to leave once the instruments were being taken down.
If you need an injection of joy to help the transition to winter, HOT PROPERTY and PACIFIC AVENUE has got you.
Be sure to follow HOT PROPERTY and PACIFIC AVENUE on Instagram, and give Lovesick Sentimental a listen now: