Keeping the night-light burning
Magnum, The Garage, Glasgow April 13th
It had been a long time since I had caught Magnum live.
Circumstances, schedules and timing had a little to do with that, but primarily it was because their ‘90s material and diminishing returns thereafter lessened the appeal for me, and there then followed the band’s six year hiatus.
Their 2001 reunion was well received but, for me, it took them an album or three to rediscover the Magnum magic, as delivered on 2007's excellent ‘Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow.’
Two further, solid releases followed ‘Princess Alice’ and many fans believe the last trio of albums to be their best ever three-in-a-row.
They may be right.
It wasn’t just the quality of their most recent release, ‘Visitation,’ (reviewed elsewhere on this site) that brought me back to a Magnum gig, it was also the fact they have been pushing new product as much as classic back catalogue on their recent tours, with more new than old.
While many reformed or reinvented classic rock acts perform retrospective sets or concentrate on ‘Greatest Hits’ material, Magnum take a different approach - and that’s a breath of fresh rock air as far as I’m concerned, and to be applauded.
And a packed crowd at The Garage did just that, applauding and cheering each and every new, recent and classic song with some gusto.
Predictably, the older material did get the biggest cheers of the night, but most of the classic songs were lifted from ‘On a Storytellers Night,’ the popular choice as Magnum’s best-ever album.
It wasn’t just a very receptive crowd (for the most part, as explained at the end of the review), it was also an exceptionally well-balanced set, with approximately a third of the songs coming from ‘Visitation,’ a third of recent post-reunion material and a third collecting back-in-the-day classics.
The specific song choices worked well, too, with ‘Visitation’ tracks ‘Wild Angels’ and ‘Mother Nature’s Final Dance’ working especially well.
The former harks back to the band’s melodic rock with hooky chorus days while the latter produces a more thought provoking lyric within a more progressive format.
The band themselves deserve as much mention as the songs performed...
The heart and soul of Magnum are founder members and ever-presents Tony Clarkin and Bob Catley.
Guitarist and Magnum songwriter Clarkin has never been one for the limelight and delivers his six-string work with just the right amount of clout and panache, without any embellishment or Rock-God posing.
Any theatrics are left to Bob Catley.
The singer's theatrics are not the type usually associated with rock front men, however - Catley’s animated antics intentionally and accurately describe the lyrics of the songs he is singing.
His arm and hand and movements deliver visual representations of the songs - musical theatre, if you will. If there were such a thing as ‘Mime with Vocals,’ Bob Catley would have his name against the copyright.
Catley may favour the lower registers these days, but when you consider his career and the continuous near forty years of recording and performing, he remains one of the most solid performers on the circuit.
He doesn’t deliver up-the-scale histrionics, but he doesn’t have to - and he doesn’t let you down.
Keyboard player Mark Stanway joined Magnum in 1980, and his piano parts and synth flourishes are so distinctive - the ‘Stanway Stamp’ if you will - that he is an essential part of the Magnum sound.
Magnum have had some solid rhythm sections in the past, but bass player Al Barrow and drummer Harry James are one of the finest tandems the band have ever had.
Barrow has been with Magnum since the 2001 reunion and worked alongside Catley and Clarkin in Heavy Rain (the band put together by the guitarist and singer after Magnum disbanded in 1995).
Ex-Thunder sticksman James worked on and off with the band since 2002 and has been the power behind the kit for the last three years.
James’ rock sensibilities add bite to the live sound and he and Barrow compliment the heavier material superbly, as exemplified on the brooding ‘Dark Skies,’ a highlight of the night.
Other highlights included ‘How Far Jerusalem,’ ‘Les Morts Dansants’ (featuring the Weegie audience in full sing-a-long voice) and the set closer ‘Vigilante.’
The last song of the set on this tour had been ‘Kingdom of Madness,’ but at Glasgow it was moved to the encore, and that brings me to the only real issues I had with the concert - the venue itself…
The Garage, like a number of other venues in the city centre, also doubles as a club or dance venue. Many live concerts at The Garage have to start and end early to accommodate those events, which follow later in the evenings.
Magnum therefore had to drop at least two numbers from their set and their usual 100 minutes plus set became 90 minutes.
It’s possible the band only knew this once they arrived at the venue but they have played there before.
These venues, tour promoters and even the bands themselves need to make their fans and ticket-buying audiences more aware of any early-start shows, in case the band are going to be on earlier than anticipated.
In this case the shortened set was the only problem because by the time the band came on everyone was in the hall, but it does mean any support bands may suffer by way of shortened sets. In some previous cases, confirmed supports haven’t even played.
Rock and R&B blues artist Gwyn Ashton was the support at this show but due to work commitments and travel time my friend and I arrived after he had performed.
As a big fan of Gwyn Ashton, I wasn’t overly impressed.
Magnum aren’t the first band to suffer from this sort of set-length reduction or restricted stage-time problem, and they won’t be the last, but it is annoying - especially as in this case the band were on fine form with an interesting and across-the-boards set-list.
Sorry to stand on my stage-monitor and preach but it’s my review and I’ll rant if I want to - and think yourselves lucky I didn’t start on the ‘fans’ who were on a constant back and forth from the bar to the middle of the crowd, more intent on talking during the songs than listening to the music.
Sounds like it wasn’t a happy ending but in fact it was - the final song of the night, ‘On a Storytellers Night,’ was a powerful finish to a great show, and the crowd and band kept the night-light burning on the chorus sing-a-long in great style.
Just a pity those night-lights couldn’t have burned a little later, and longer.
Ross Muir
April 2011
Magnum, The Garage, Glasgow April 13th
It had been a long time since I had caught Magnum live.
Circumstances, schedules and timing had a little to do with that, but primarily it was because their ‘90s material and diminishing returns thereafter lessened the appeal for me, and there then followed the band’s six year hiatus.
Their 2001 reunion was well received but, for me, it took them an album or three to rediscover the Magnum magic, as delivered on 2007's excellent ‘Princess Alice and the Broken Arrow.’
Two further, solid releases followed ‘Princess Alice’ and many fans believe the last trio of albums to be their best ever three-in-a-row.
They may be right.
It wasn’t just the quality of their most recent release, ‘Visitation,’ (reviewed elsewhere on this site) that brought me back to a Magnum gig, it was also the fact they have been pushing new product as much as classic back catalogue on their recent tours, with more new than old.
While many reformed or reinvented classic rock acts perform retrospective sets or concentrate on ‘Greatest Hits’ material, Magnum take a different approach - and that’s a breath of fresh rock air as far as I’m concerned, and to be applauded.
And a packed crowd at The Garage did just that, applauding and cheering each and every new, recent and classic song with some gusto.
Predictably, the older material did get the biggest cheers of the night, but most of the classic songs were lifted from ‘On a Storytellers Night,’ the popular choice as Magnum’s best-ever album.
It wasn’t just a very receptive crowd (for the most part, as explained at the end of the review), it was also an exceptionally well-balanced set, with approximately a third of the songs coming from ‘Visitation,’ a third of recent post-reunion material and a third collecting back-in-the-day classics.
The specific song choices worked well, too, with ‘Visitation’ tracks ‘Wild Angels’ and ‘Mother Nature’s Final Dance’ working especially well.
The former harks back to the band’s melodic rock with hooky chorus days while the latter produces a more thought provoking lyric within a more progressive format.
The band themselves deserve as much mention as the songs performed...
The heart and soul of Magnum are founder members and ever-presents Tony Clarkin and Bob Catley.
Guitarist and Magnum songwriter Clarkin has never been one for the limelight and delivers his six-string work with just the right amount of clout and panache, without any embellishment or Rock-God posing.
Any theatrics are left to Bob Catley.
The singer's theatrics are not the type usually associated with rock front men, however - Catley’s animated antics intentionally and accurately describe the lyrics of the songs he is singing.
His arm and hand and movements deliver visual representations of the songs - musical theatre, if you will. If there were such a thing as ‘Mime with Vocals,’ Bob Catley would have his name against the copyright.
Catley may favour the lower registers these days, but when you consider his career and the continuous near forty years of recording and performing, he remains one of the most solid performers on the circuit.
He doesn’t deliver up-the-scale histrionics, but he doesn’t have to - and he doesn’t let you down.
Keyboard player Mark Stanway joined Magnum in 1980, and his piano parts and synth flourishes are so distinctive - the ‘Stanway Stamp’ if you will - that he is an essential part of the Magnum sound.
Magnum have had some solid rhythm sections in the past, but bass player Al Barrow and drummer Harry James are one of the finest tandems the band have ever had.
Barrow has been with Magnum since the 2001 reunion and worked alongside Catley and Clarkin in Heavy Rain (the band put together by the guitarist and singer after Magnum disbanded in 1995).
Ex-Thunder sticksman James worked on and off with the band since 2002 and has been the power behind the kit for the last three years.
James’ rock sensibilities add bite to the live sound and he and Barrow compliment the heavier material superbly, as exemplified on the brooding ‘Dark Skies,’ a highlight of the night.
Other highlights included ‘How Far Jerusalem,’ ‘Les Morts Dansants’ (featuring the Weegie audience in full sing-a-long voice) and the set closer ‘Vigilante.’
The last song of the set on this tour had been ‘Kingdom of Madness,’ but at Glasgow it was moved to the encore, and that brings me to the only real issues I had with the concert - the venue itself…
The Garage, like a number of other venues in the city centre, also doubles as a club or dance venue. Many live concerts at The Garage have to start and end early to accommodate those events, which follow later in the evenings.
Magnum therefore had to drop at least two numbers from their set and their usual 100 minutes plus set became 90 minutes.
It’s possible the band only knew this once they arrived at the venue but they have played there before.
These venues, tour promoters and even the bands themselves need to make their fans and ticket-buying audiences more aware of any early-start shows, in case the band are going to be on earlier than anticipated.
In this case the shortened set was the only problem because by the time the band came on everyone was in the hall, but it does mean any support bands may suffer by way of shortened sets. In some previous cases, confirmed supports haven’t even played.
Rock and R&B blues artist Gwyn Ashton was the support at this show but due to work commitments and travel time my friend and I arrived after he had performed.
As a big fan of Gwyn Ashton, I wasn’t overly impressed.
Magnum aren’t the first band to suffer from this sort of set-length reduction or restricted stage-time problem, and they won’t be the last, but it is annoying - especially as in this case the band were on fine form with an interesting and across-the-boards set-list.
Sorry to stand on my stage-monitor and preach but it’s my review and I’ll rant if I want to - and think yourselves lucky I didn’t start on the ‘fans’ who were on a constant back and forth from the bar to the middle of the crowd, more intent on talking during the songs than listening to the music.
Sounds like it wasn’t a happy ending but in fact it was - the final song of the night, ‘On a Storytellers Night,’ was a powerful finish to a great show, and the crowd and band kept the night-light burning on the chorus sing-a-long in great style.
Just a pity those night-lights couldn’t have burned a little later, and longer.
Ross Muir
April 2011
