Endor / Verse Metrics / Little Eskimos / Iona Bain

The last gig I photographed was We Were Promised Jetpacks back in December. It's not all that long ago but it seems like ages. I've been missing it a lot over the Christmas period and so tonight was as cathartic as it was enjoyable. Tonight was the first night of King Tut's 'New Years Revolution' series of gigs in which they have 70 Scottish bands and artists playing over 14 nights. Headlining the first show are Endor, who I recently wrote about as my band of the year for Radar.

Before that though were 3 acts that, although I'd heard a lot about, I hadn't managed to see live.

Iona Bain is remarkably talented with a beautiful voice. Tender songs delivered simply, no bells and whistles needed.

Little Eskimos have a sack load of great tunes. The edge is taken off the songs slightly though by far too audible conversations about how to start songs and injokes with the crowd. A bit of work on the delivery to bring it to the same level as the songs and they'll have a great show.

Verse Metrics were described to me as 'a bit shoegazy' which didn't fill me with a great deal of hope but it turns out their live show is a lot more energetic than their recorded output would have you believe. Talented bunch that the crowd took to well. Not entirely my cup of tea but easy to appreciate that they are good at what they're doing.

Endor. Not really sure what I can say about Endor. Some bands, when I see them live or hear them on record, always bring a smile to my face. Endor are like this, but on a more extreme level. Seeing them live fills me with happiness. The songs are fantastic, the delivery is always impeccable (even still, after line up changes) and Jarv's voice would melt stone. The crowd lap it up, the band love it, and I leave extremely happy that it's only taken 3 days of the year to get some Endor back in my life.