Ugly Kid Joe - Slay, Glasgow Wednesday 27th March 2024

For the next few years, I kept up with the band’s releases, including the albums Menace to Sobriety and Motel California, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. To a young me, Ugly Kid Joe were the same as Metallica, in that that they were the hard rock and metal rebels taking on the trendy Britpop that was starting to saturate the charts and airwaves in the UK. As my classmates and peers were embracing Oasis and Blur, I was still rocking out and playing air guitar to what I regarded as being much heavier, more melodic music. Mostly, I was just being an awkward teen, trying to be an outsider and thriving on listening to something completely different from everyone else. But the music spoke to me and Ugly Kid Joe became a prominent part of the soundtrack to my life.

They disappeared off the radar around 1997 and slipped out of my mind and stereo system. Finishing secondary school, going to university, leaving university (best not spoken about, as it’ll set my mum off on a rant again!), starting a job (I’m still there!), getting engaged, getting married, having kids, losing hair, gaining weight and all of a sudden reaching my early 40s (wtf, how did that happen???), all done without Ugly Kid Joe releasing music or touring. I had lost track of what the band were doing but a few years ago, I discovered they had reformed and released a new album, Uglier Than They Used to Be, in 2015 followed by 2017s mini-album Stairway to Hell and 2022’s Rad Wings of Destiny, all excellent recordings. But inexplicably, despite being an avid concert goer for many years, I’d never seen them live… until now!

The Rad Wings of Destiny Tour has been quite a success for Ugly Kid Joe, touring all over Europe where their music remains as popular as ever and even undertaking their first full US Tour for 27 years. Still fronted by Whitfield Crane (vocals) and completed by fellow long-termer Klaus Eichstadt (guitar) as well as touring musicians Chris Catalyst (guitar), Mike Squires (bass) and Cam Greenwood (drums), the final leg of the tour was announced late last year with the very last night being at Slay in Glasgow’s Glassford Street. It was too good an opportunity to miss, at last getting an opportunity to see one of the bands of my youth in a live setting. It only took 30 years or so!

Opening the night was The Virginmarys, a dynamic rock duo from Macclesfield made up of Ally Dickaty on vocals and guitar and Danny Dolan on drums. They’re far from being a new band and have been on the scene for many years now, releasing a series of excellent and well-received albums and EPs, as well as being crowned Best Breakthrough Act at the 2013 Classic Rock Awards. It was pleasing to see the venue was fairly full when they arrived onstage, playing a rocking and energetic 40-minute set where it was clear that the small Glaswegian venue was their Wembley Stadium for the night. Ripping through a setlist made up of album tracks and more recently released singles such as the brilliant ‘The Devil Keeps Coming’ and ‘You’re a Killer’, there was even time for a comical moment with the Glasgow audience when one kindly Scotswoman shouted “How are you?”, with her broad accent mistaken for the more insulting “Who are you?” by the slightly flustered Dickaty. However, understanding was quickly restored, with the vocalist and guitarist explaining that they’ve had a wonderful time touring with Ugly Kid Joe, being treated like family by the US band and crew. That’s good to hear, as this level of live performance with some brilliant, aggressive, riffy music and powerful, throaty vocals must’ve won them a few new fans over the last few weeks of touring, hopefully encouraging them to return to Scottish stages sooner rather than later.

It wasn’t too much of a wait before the night’s headliners, Ugly Kid Joe, took to the stage, with Eichstadt, Catalyst, Squires and Greenwood starting the show with a short instrumental intro that very much set the scene, before Whitfield Crane bounded on from stage left. Still full of energy and still wearing his trademark back to front baseball cap, Crane interacted with the Glasgow crowd from the outset, encouraging hand clapping and cheers throughout the set opener, the catchy yet verging on rap-rock ‘V.I.P.’ Catalyst stood out in a funky banana shirt, shorts and knee-high football socks, with Eichstadt sporting similar lower wear. Not your usual type of clothing in Glasgow! Fan favourite ‘Neighbor’ from debut album America’s Least Wanted was greeted like a long lost friend, as the audience sang along to the “it’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood” chorus with gusto, whilst the Biblical name-checking ‘Jesus Rode a Harley’ (Moses, Noah and Mary, as well as the main man himself for anyone wondering) and the funky ‘C.U.S.T.’ really started to turn the atmosphere up a notch or two. Being in Glasgow, Crane acknowledged the city’s musical heritage before playing a faithful and hard rocking cover of AC/DC’s ‘Sin City’ in homage to the Young brothers being born in that very city and Bon Scott also being Scottish (but you all knew that without me telling you!!). “It’s one time only on this tour. We love AC/DC” exclaimed the singer, driving an already enthusiastic crowd wild. Winning over a Scottish audience is easy, by simply praising anything Scottish!

It was back to America’s Least Wanted with the bluesy opening of ‘Panhandlin’ Prince’, another clear favourite, before a reminder that Ugly Kid Joe continue to create great new music with a slightly reworked version of ‘Kill the Pain’ from the Rad Wings of Destiny album. It was particularly pleasing to see that much of the audience seemed to already know this song very well, showing that the latest album is being readily accepted into the band’s legacy by their fanbase. There was a trip back to the debut with the Alice In Chains-like ‘So Damn Cool’ before a double-dunter (a Scots phrase!) from the Stairway to Hell recording, the moody ‘No One Survives’ and ‘Devil’s Paradise’, with the crowd waving arms left to right to the riff. There was a neat band-crowd moment, as a woman named Cindy continually shouted out for a deep-cut not on the setlist… and to Ugly Kid Joe’s credit, they made a pretty good effort at playing a snippet of that song for her!

As you may have gathered from the intro of this review, ‘Cats in the Cradle’ is a special song to me, mainly due to the great memories it evokes every time I hear it. Everyone has such a song. It’s not necessarily your favourite… but it has some kind of emotional connection, deep in your soul. Crane explained to the audience that the song was only on the America’s Least Wanted album because they needed to fill the album out, so they chose to cover the 1974 Harry Chapin song (losing an apostrophe along the way!). As the intro started, I felt goosebumps and found myself singing along to every word… loudly and badly. But it wasn’t just me providing backing vocals, with the Glasgow choir helping to raise the roof. In all my years of concert going, this part was an incredible feeling for me and demonstrated the power of live music: deeply personal yet still a kind of communal moment with the band and others in the venue. I’ve been fortunate to see some of the biggest music stars from many genres of music in some iconic venues… but hearing ‘Cats in the Cradle’ by Ugly Kid Joe played live in the small Glasgow venue was a 4-minute trip in a time machine for me. Wow… and thanks!

The tempo was increased with ‘I’m Alright’ and the criminally underrated and ultra-catchy ‘Milkman’s Son’ (my dad always used to joke that I was the milkman’s son… but we didn’t have a milkman, so I’ve always assumed he was joking……) before Klaus Eichstadt overcame a bout of shyness to lend his vocals to a great version of ‘Mr Recordman;, again accompanied by the audience’s backing vocals. There was a return to latest album Rad Wings of Destiny with the Cult-like ‘Failure’ before ending the main set with another fan-favourite from America’s Least Wanted, ‘Goddamn Devil’.

Nobody was ready for home yet and fortunately Ugly Kid Joe took cognisance of that, choosing not to leave the stage for an encore and instead offering the choice of one or two more songs, depending on how loud the crowd could shout. It was the end of the tour and we were a pretty loud crowd… so we got three, starting with the AC/DC-like ‘That Ain’t Livin’’, the opener from the latest album, before Squires came centre stage to launch into a raucous cover of Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’. The last song could be no other, and it was another shared moment within Slay as the intro to ‘Everything About You’ boomed around the room, with incredibly loud backing vocals by the Glasgow audience echoing around the venue. Every single word was sung for Crane and if he’d wanted, he could’ve put his microphone down and walked off stage, particularly at the iconic, fun ending. There was a quick blast of a few bars of ‘Heavy Metal’ before it was all over… and Ugly Kid Joe left the stage without pomp not circumstance, having achieved what they set out to do: rock Glasgow!

It is often said that music is the key to accessing long-locked away memories, hidden somewhere in the brain’s vaults. Hearing a song can transport you back in time, to the sights, sounds and smells of a snapshot in time, when things were simpler and life was easier. That’s exactly what happened to me and many others when watching Ugly Kid Joe live in Glasgow. The nostalgia of the songs from America’s Least Wanted and the other 90s albums took me back to a time when I had hair and a waistline, whilst the more current tracks brought me crashing back to the present day, reminding me that great new rock music is still very much alive and well in the Ugly Kid Joe camp. They are a fantastic live band, very much aware of their legacy and heritage but still determined to show their worth with great new material in an industry driven by trends rather than talent. This late-career renaissance is well deserved and I hope it’s not another three decades before I get the chance to see them live again!

Ugly Kid Joe rocked, rolled and entertained the Glasgow crowd with an energetic and fun performance, just as if it was 1993 again! For one night only, America’s Least Wanted became Glasgow’s most loved. Now, I really need to get into the loft or garage to find that box of cassettes……