glasgowbury ’10: lafaro1

Were it not for the special guests, LaFaro would have been my highlight of Glasgowbury. Heavy riffs, caustic vocals, political in-correctness, Buckfast and some damn fine tunes culminated in a showstopping set that cement LaFaro as the premium purveyors of Northern Irish rock. Despite taking what felt like an age to set up, the band flew through various tracks from their finally released eponymous debut album. “Jeff Hinton” sounds just as punchy live as it does on record- the bass chugged along, the Magee brothers headbanged in perfect sync and the ever reliable Alan Lynn whipped up a frenetic drumline in order to please the baying crowd.

In general, it’s surprisingly polished though still completely and utterly predictable. Despite the fact Jonny Black does sound like he has been smoking and drinking whisky non-stop since the age of thirteen his vocals are an integral part of LaFaro: there’s a certain quality, a harshness and a brittleness that are reminiscent of Tom Waits or countless other songwriters. “Tupenny Nudger” is still a cornerstone of a LaFaro live performance but it’s a testament to the strength of their album that there are so many powerful songs in their repertoire. “The Ballad of Burnt Dave” and “Girl Is A Drummer” are as infectious as the typical mass produced pop song but Katy Perry would find it difficult to unite metallers and wannabe scenesters (such as yours truly) in going absolutely buck mad. This is a band that thrive on crowd interaction. There’s a lot of clapping, the singalongs are too many to mention and you can be guaranteed to experience at least a bit of comedy on stage. A headliner-worthy performance.

High point: the first six or seven rows of the crowd singing along to the ending of “Jeff Hinton”. Just awesome.

Low point: it’s a tie between taking forever to actually start the set and leaving out Leningrad.