Hot Snakes @ Broadcast, Glasgow, 26 Jan
A packed-to-the-rafters basement venue full of excited fans makes for the best gig we've never seen
| 07 Feb 2018
The expressions on the faces of those lucky enough to clamber out from the front row blast zone at Broadcast tonight suggest that Hot Snakes' return to Glasgow is not only worth the wait – it's a blinder. To everyone else, however, this is likely more literal; at least if the eye-level sea of ponytails and sweat-drenched leather jackets experienced by this writer is anything to go by.
To be fair, it's absolutely rammed. But while a sell out show should always be celebrated, it's hard to hear the champagne pop when you're squeezed into the back of a basement with a ceiling so low you can only see second-long flashes of the band you're here to see – at best. Ok, so it's a standard at small shows, to a degree, but this isn't a small show. Or at least, it shouldn't be. It's a big show, mercilessly pushed into the frame of a small one, whatever the awkward, uncomfortable consequences – like that scene from Men in Black where the giant alien cockroach barely fits into the skin of a hillbilly Vincent D'Onofrio.
The sound seemingly suffers a similar fate up the back too, with the bulk of it presumably being absorbed by the writhing mass of denim and grease up front and only popping out now and then for special occasions. Of course, most folk don't seem to mind, or maybe just don't want to because they're so excited. Even those having to edge further back and up the stairs in order to see anything were loving every second of what the San Diegan reptiles sent their way, up and over the tops of everyone else's heads.
What does make it out – from a belter of a set on paper stretching from the band's debut Automatic Midnight to upcoming new record Jericho Sirens – hits hard (Plenty For All and the encore outings of Suicide Invoice and If Credit's What Matters I'll Take Credit come to mind as highlights). But at the back, this tidal wave hits like spots of spitting rain. Still, might've been the best gig we've never seen.