Frightened Rabbit

The Arches,

Glasgow

30/09/08

 

Selkirk’s Frightened Rabbit have come a long way over the last eight months or so. Back in February the quartet played the city’s
Cathouse venue to a vocal but relatively sparse crowd, tonight however, thanks to tickets selling at a rate of fifty-an-hour in the lead up to the show, The Arches is close to bursting point.

 

Trooping on stage the four-piece look somewhat taken aback by the turn-out. “There’s quite a few of you” utters singer/guitarist Scott Hutchison in disbelief before kicking off proceedings with new single ‘I Feel Better’. Apart from the colossal ‘Square 9’, tonight’s set takes in most of the Rabbit’s acclaimed second LP, The Midnight Organ Fight, an album sure to make many a critic’s top 10 list come the end of the year, and rightly so.

 

Tonight they can do no wrong. Every song provokes the desired response from the 800 strong crowd as waves of adulation sweep through the cavernous venue, engulfing the quartet and driving them on in a blaze of infectious passion. The euphoric ‘Fast Blood’ lifts the crowd as one, whilst ‘The Modern Leper’ prompts the first of numerous sing-alongs.

Maintaining such momentum for an hour or so is beyond most bands but with songs like ‘The Twist’, ‘Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms’ and ‘Heads Roll Off’, coupled with the energy and honesty of their delivery, tonight’s performance never dips below mesmerising.

 

Part one of a two-song encore, the heart-breaking ‘Poke’ sees Hutchison alone, teetering on the edge of the stage acoustic guitar in hand, his fragile vocal and emotive lyrics laid bare for three spine-tingling minutes. But fittingly it’s ‘Keep Yourself Warm’ and the inevitable revelry and vocal reaction it elicits that closes another captivating performance from a band that seems to get better with every show.

 

Andy Kerr