Gig Review: Tragedy – Audio, Glasgow (20th May 2018)

To put tonight into perspective – I’ve just completed a 3-day outdoor Krav Maga course. I barely made it home alive after a 2-hour drive while extremely exhausted. I remembered I had a gig to go to. Argh. It’s Tragedy. Ooh, well I definitely still have to go.

Some people have issues with cover bands – and that includes a couple of people who write for this very site. I can see their point, to some extent. There are countless bands out there already struggling to make their own creative voices heard without stages and venues being full of bands pretending to be other bands. Tragedy, though… they may play classic disco, but they warp it so much that it’s close to being original. Plus they’re fun. A lot of fun.

The venue was comfortably about 2/3 full as the band (no support tonight) hit the stage around 8:30. Ideal for a Sunday night with crap(per than usual) public transport, there was an early finish but they packed a lot into ninety minutes.

From titular track “Tragedy” through to “Stayin’ Alive”, the band’s Bee Gees influences were, as ever, very obvious. From the very start, they were out to impress with all four front men, that is all the band apart from scary drummer The Lord Gibbeth, took turns to sing parts of the opening song. Harmonies throughout were spot on, too. This isn’t just a band singing covers, this is a band bringing them to life.

Some songs garnered bigger cheers than others when they began, usually after a lengthy introduction. “Africa” and “Country Roads” were two, though the highlight of the night for yours truly was “Raining Men”. Not only is it bookended by a pair of great Slayer riffs, but Tragedy reeled out a live version with a great singalong middle.

The encore saw an original tune as well, with the band mashing together The Beatles’ “Wonderwall” (that classic group from Glasgow) with “Stairway to Heaven”. Just trust me… it worked.

A couple of the between-track schticks I’d seen before, but a lot was original. Though, seriously, Lance. Get to…

Tragedy are a band who keep on giving. They’re hugely entertaining and great musicians. I was so annoyed to miss them on the last tour, but they made up for it with a wonderful evening’s entertainment this time around and I will continue to harp on at people who’ve not caught them before to get out and catch them live.

Glasgow City… Decimated! Experience the decimation yourself on one of the remaining dates of this tour (all this month):

  • 21 – Edinburgh, Bannermans
  • 22 – Newcastle, Trillians
  • 23 – York, Fibbers
  • 24 – Norwich, The Waterfront
  • 25 – Glastonbudget Music Festival
  • 26 – London, Lexington

Tragedy: official | facebook | twitter | youtube

 

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