Anchor Lane G2, Glasgow Saturday 28th January 2023

The Scottish music scene is starting to thrive again following the disruption of the pandemic, so it was fitting to have two Scottish bands as support acts with Blue Nicotine and North Atlas providing the early entertainment. A few technical issues besieged the early part of the latter’s set but it’s fair to say that both bands had ample time to showcase their talent in front of a decent sized audience, seizing the opportunity and warming up the crowd nicely for the main act.

Anchor Lane are now a threesome and album credits for ‘Call This a Reality?’ indicated that frontman Conor Gaffney is now purely dedicated to vocals, with the affable Lawrence O’Brien on guitars and Graeme Newbury on drums. The fancy-looking lighting stands on the stage and the large banner with the band’s name emblazoned on it at the rear of the stage, along with the excellent selection of merchandise on offer, suggested that they had pulled out all the stops to make this hometown gig a special one.

At 9pm on the dot, the lights dimmed and the instrumental and atmospheric music of ‘The Static’ from the new album burst through the speakers. When I say burst, I pretty much mean it in the literal sense, as it was perhaps a little too loud for the size of the venue, causing the air to vibrate and a few people having to adjust their filtered ear plugs! But it was the perfect intro, as Anchor Lane took to the stage with the new album opener ‘Stutter’ followed by ‘Misery’ and the title track ‘Call This a Reality?’, mirroring the song order of the album itself. It was a stomping opening and the fact that much of the audience were singing along to the lyrics in perfect harmony belied the fact that the album had only been released the previous day!

It was initially a bit unusual to see Conor Gaffney without a guitar as he strolled, jumped and strutted across the stage with reckless abandon, as if he was born to be a frontman! His new freedom meant he could easily engage the audience but of course, he did strap on the guitar on occasion. It’s a show itself to watch O’Brien performing; calm and focused on his guitar one minute but literally rocking his whole body violently back and forward like a maniac the next! The motherly side of Mrs Griffiths, standing next to me, was concerned for his neck as his long hair slammed through the air! Graeme Newbury played the drums powerfully without skipping a beat with a hint of a drum solo at the intro to one of the early songs… but I must confess that I couldn’t see him for the vast majority of the gig due to the lighting and the at times overpowering use of the strobe effect. The use of the strobes was indeed effective and looked great but was fairly sore on the eyes when close to the front, particularly when used multiple times on one song.

Debut album ‘Casino’ was represented by a dirty, heavy sounding rendition of ‘Honey’ that was greeted like an old friend by the audience before returning to the new album by kicking into the fast-paced and explosive (excuse the half pun!) ‘Nytroglycerine’… with added strobes! “We’re going to do a few from Casino, if that’s alright?” asked Gaffney and the audience reaction indicated that it was more than acceptable! ‘Blood and Irony’, written along with Black Star Riders/Almighty frontman and Belfast-born, Glasgow-bred Ricky Warwick and a bluesy ‘Stone Cold Hearted’ proved that the debut was still much loved by Anchor Lane’s fans, despite the fact that the pandemic meant it wasn’t given the opportunity to be heard live as much as the band would’ve liked. ‘Fame Shame’ also appeared later in the set and it struck me that the songs are much heavier and have more urgency and power than they appear to have on the debut record.

It was back to the new album with a stunning rendition of ‘I’ve Been Waiting’, a song that Gaffney said they had been waiting for ages to perform in front of an audience. An attempt at a pun perhaps? Maybe… but definitely some truth in there too! The catchy electronic pop sounds were at times drowned out by the loud guitars but it’s clear that this is already held in high esteem by fans and that it will feature on the setlist for the foreseeable future. I predicted in my album review that ‘The Mischievous Song’ would be a live favourite and the way the audience bounced and bopped with huge grins on their faces suggested that I was indeed correct, followed by ‘Choke’ and ‘Electric Karma’, also from the new release.

“Let’s not waste our time and your time by doing this encore nonsense” exclaimed Gaffney before leading the band into the final flurry of ‘Sycophant Disorder’ and newly released single “I Don’t Have Another Soul to Pour’. There was a magnificent moment towards the end of the former, when Gaffney encouraged the audience to crouch down towards the floor before instructing them to jump back to their feet to headbang and pogo as the powerful outro of the song came to life. The fact that the vast majority of the crowd complied made this quite a sight and it must have been a great moment to view from the stage, affirming that Anchor Lane had their fans in the palm of their hands.

As the band left the stage and the audience dispersed into the cold Glasgow night, it was clear that we had all just witnessed a very special performance that must be right up there with one of the best concert nights that Sauchiehall Street has hosted in a long time. Anchor Lane played with power, aggression and a passion for their craft that I haven’t seen at a gig for many years. Whilst their recorded music is enjoyable and melodic, I can’t help but feel that its real purpose is to be heard live, with magic happening when it’s performed onstage. It’s heavier and more powerful in a live setting, played by a band who don’t want to be constrained by a recording studio. Anchor Lane have spent years building their live reputation, from playing small venues to large festivals. They have paid their dues and put in the hard work and on a cold Saturday night in Glasgow, the stars aligned and it all came together perfectly. This was the type of night they had worked towards and they can only get better as the tour progresses. Buy your ticket now, as on this form, you won’t regret it!

Tickets are still available for Anchor Lane’s UK Tour which spans the month of February 2023 and takes in venues in Bradford, Newcastle, Manchester, Grimsby, Plymouth, Bridgewater, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Chester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.