Nighttown, Rotterdam
02/12/04
Seeing The Delgados outside of Scotland is a weird experience for me. Transforming themselves from a band I used to hate to a band I loved over a period of years, I’ve seen them numerous times in the grandest of circumstances and also the humblest. Yet seeing this new incarnation completely stripped of orchestra and struggling to fit onto a tiny stage in a foreign land is quite different - tucking a violinist/keyboardist behind one guitar amp, maybe sticking a cellist/keyboardist behind another. It’s like they’ve come camping in Europe and forgotten the sleeping bags. But while lacking in personage, the band haven’t lost anything of style or sound, enjoying the rougher edges and boasting some mean distortion pedals too.
Kicking off with ‘I Fought the Angels’ from new album Universal Audio, it was a band embracing raw guitar chords and voices. With nowhere to hide, this song has the bravado to open gigs, building up on itself stage by stage until bass arpeggios and exuberant drumming open the floodgates to the full noise - Emma Pollock’s voice coming across reassuringly solid throughout (although she really is such a small thing. I’d never noticed before on the bigger stages).
There the journey began, taking on most pieces from Universal Audio as well as dabbling in their now impressive back-catalogue, paying particular attention to The Great Eastern and Hate. It was a hard working performance also, with all members displaying some serious graft at getting things right, only relaxing between songs to thank the audience effusively. Even Alun Woodward’s voice sounds stronger this time around. While bassist Stewart Henderson was surprisingly understated for once in the middle of the stage, it emerged he’d dislocated his knee in Groningen the previous night, so credit to him for actually staying standing let alone moving.
As time passed, audience figures dwindled. Due to a late start, simple necessity forced many out onto the street in pursuit of the last train. However, band momentum continued to grow, as did the reaction from those able to stay. Although recent single ‘Everybody Come Down’ became marred halfway through by a tuning incident that was a little unnerving to the ears, from that point onwards the band never looked back. Maybe it was the alcohol finally kicking in, but shoulders relaxed and the atmosphere in the room reached the level of appreciation the band deserved. Even Woodward’s attempt at laying into local football team Feyenoord couldn’t turn people off, although it forced my fingers into my ears through fear of finding out the football score.
Closing the main set with a mighty version of ‘Now and Forever’ that picked you up in waves of melody before easing you back down, there was no escape from an encore. Even in the cruel circumstance of having to climb off the front of the stage, edge past the audience, and then climb back on a few minutes later – particularly troubling for Henderson. But with a lovely acoustic version of ‘Sink or Swim’ showing another dynamic and a full-on ‘No Danger’ closing the show, everyone ebbed away into the freezing night glowing just that bit warmer.
Steven McCarron
Photo: Mark Scheffer of Vera.
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