NME Awards Tour @ Barrowlands Glasgow 05/02/10

Looking calm and confident  The Drums kick off the 2010 NME Award Tour’s only stop in Scotland. The Barrowlands might be, as Jacob Graham from The Drums would say later “in a pretty sketchy neighbourhood” but it remains one of Scotland’s best live music venues.

Those in the know made the effort to get down early were rewarded with this relatively unknown band from Florida via NYC. The audience take to them straight away with many girls screaming over the band, particularly lead singer Jonathan Pierce, who I overhear one girl calling “the love of her life”.

Opening with ‘It Will All End in Tears’, the band waste no time in kicking into gear. Next is ‘Best Friend’ a track that quickly shows the band’s character, as they dance around while getting the crowd involved with chanting. You can hear the happiness pouring from their vocals and their dancing reflects this also.

The Drums proceed onto ‘I Felt Stupid’ building the momentum further; the song carries a strong beat and deep lyrics, my personal favourite of the evening. You can tell when a Barrowland’s crowd dislike a band, especially an opening act: they chat, throw pints, jeer and mock. This is the east end of Glasgow and the crowd will literally ’set about’ a group if they don’t like them but The Drums have no need to worry!

An extra treat is in store when Tracyanne Campbell and Carey Lander, of local indie darlings Camera Obscura one of The Drums’ favourite bands, join them onstage to perform ‘Don’t be a Jerk, Jonny’. This unexpected addition to the set was a welcome loveliness, as these guys sure know how to charm the local crowd! Graham said:

“We met Camera Obscura at their show in NYC and they were really nice to us and that’s how tonight came about.”

Camera Obscura leave the stage to a big cheer before The Drums kick into the ridiculously catchy ‘Let’s Go Surfing’, a song the audience clearly know and a mass sing along ensues. Again the energy from the stage spills into the crowd and as the strobe lighting starts, the springy Barrowland’s floor really gets moving!

The set ends with ‘Forever and Ever’ and the band invite to the audience to “come and say hi, we’ll be at the merch table downstairs” and sure enough they stay to sign autographs and chat with fans. Just like last year’s NME Awards Tour’s opening act, Florence and The Machine (who The Drums are back playing with in May), don’t expect The Drums to be at the bottom of the bill for much longer, their full set list is below:

It Will All End in Tears
Best Friend
I Felt Stupid
Book of Stories
Don’t be a Jerk
Let’s Go Surfing
Forever and Ever

Following the Drums were The Big Pink who we caught at Tuts last year and Bombay Bicycle Club who we reviewed at the ABC 2 last April. After headliners The Maccabees everyone headed down to the Pin Ups NME afterparty at Stereo. With The Big Pink and Bombay Bicycle Club pencilled in to DJ, fans were in for a treat when unexpectedly even The Maccabees show up. At one point member of all three bands were tearing up the stage along with hordes of stage-invading fans to the surprising accompaniment of Dr Dre, with Stereo security having to step in. Last year the unofficial most mangled award went to Florence (of the Machine), well this time it was the Big Pink’s sexy drummer, sporting hot pants and a sparkly garter takes her crown!!

Words: Gillian Madden