The venue is Oran Mor in Glasgow’s West End and the band is “When Rivers Meet.” We are in the basement and it’s dark and it’s busy. In fact, it’s very busy. Packed from the front of the stage all the way back past the sound desk and up to the bar.
I spoke to a couple of the people in the crowd while we wait for the band to come on stage. Everyone I spoke to said that this was the first time that they had seen the band. Postponed throughout lock-down the gig had been rescheduled and it’s a testament to Aaron and Grace Bond that they have stirred up such a resounding support in the city through they’re constant online engagement. When it comes to running the business this man and wife duo have covered all of the bases.
There is a murmur which runs through the crowd and I look up to see the band emerge through the blue light and the roof is lifted with the welcome from the Glasgow punters. Everyone says that Glasgow has one of the best live music audiences in the world and it is a reputation well-earned and well-sustained.
Grace appears to be having some difficulty summoning up some words. Partly because she is smiling so hard and, as she admits herself, partly due to excitement. You can tell that the whole band are primed and ready to go and that the audience are 100% behind them before they even strike a note.
Aaron is one of those guitarists that jumps up onto a groove and rides it over the heads of the audience like a freight train howling through the night. I’ve never found out the biological reason that initiates the head banging action in humans when a particular sonic concoction kicks off but when “Did I Break the Law” started grinding in, the whole audience synchronised and I thought…”If Grace doesn’t get that smile under control the intro might have to go for another 16 bars.” Ironically the first words where “Now I’ve got to take it steady” and she took her own advice and launched into the song with the audience joining in at the hook. Rapturous applause and then on to “Walking on the Wire.” Aaron commanding the groove once again with some really gutsy slide while Grace fires up some nice solos on a rather cool looking black mandolin. That’s not something you see every day but it works. It really works!
A slight change of pace to “My Babe Says That He Loves Me.” Roger Innis on bass and James Fox on drums added great dynamics and again, looking over the crowd there is a good time going on.
Battleground is a personal favourite and from memory was the first song I remember hearing a couple of years back when my social media feeds were all suddenly vibrating to the new sound that Aaron and Grace were stirring up.
The band powered through the set and took the audience with them. You could tell that it had been worth the wait. If the band thought they were getting away without an encore they were sadly mistaken, as the boys and girls in the basement bayed for more!
The last song of the night, again a personal favourite, was Testify which saw the whole band go for it in a thunderous groove that had the whole place jumping. This material is inspired, the sound is awesome and, regardless of the fact that we had all come to church tonight, the response from the congregation was nearing biblical proportions. Brothers and Sisters…Amen.
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