King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut served as the setting for Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ latest Glasgow event. Celebrating their 10th anniversary as a band, Red Jumpsuit chose to bring relatively unknown support acts Rat Attack and Tantrum Blind to open the show, but it was clear that the crowd were there for the Florida rockers.
Rat Attack attempted to blind the crowd with front man Mike Hodges donning a Bowie reminiscent sparkly gold shirt. In an effort to stir a bit of life into the uninterested crowd said shirt was then removed – a treat for ladies, gay men and tattoo lovers, I can assure you. Hodges attempts to get the crowd moving and “doing craziest dance moves (they) could think of” were said with more than a hint of desperation and in the end his own chaotic bouncing around the stage almost rewarded him a concussion, thanks to the extremely low ceiling.
Swedish, female fronted Tantrum to Blind were shown a bit more affection and Melanie Mohlkert’s impressive vocals were certainly a pleasant surprise. Songs such as Get Get Get, with it’s catchy, repetitive hook got their audience shouting along to the chorus, though they may have earned themselves a few more fans had they left the synchronised headbanging in Scandinavia. Though he may be about 25 feet tall bass player Daniel Lundell was gracious and surprisingly softly spoken, hanging back at the bar after his set to sign autographs and talk to the Glasgow fans. Top marks for fan appreciation.
But, at 9:20, the real stars arrived – and blew the thatched roof of the legendary Hut!
For the first time all night, King Tut’s made some noise and Glasgow gave the Yankee quartet a true Glasgow welcome. Performing in a venue hardly bigger than someone’s living room, in what is effectively the back room of a pub, RJA treated their audience to an hour of musical delights. Always pitch perfect and forever chilled, the small venue was the perfect location for only surviving original and member Ronnie Winters to deliver a stunning, powerful vocal.
New song Am I The Enemy really got the fans jumping and was a welcome treat for some who may not have heard their new material.
However it was the old favourites Face Down, You Better Pray and Your Guardian Angel that rated highest in the scream stakes. In true reflection of the latters’ lyrics, tears rolled down more than one face. Achieving what Rat Attack failed to, the crowd were not only jumping but dancing. The sporadic dispensing of their new CD into the grappling hands of the crowd was an added bonus, due to the close proximity of the stage to their fans.
Always worth a listen and definitely worth seeing twice, RJA were worth more than their £10 ticket.
9/10
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