Back in Glasgow after a 5-year hiatus (nothing compared to the 16-year gap since their last show in Bradford!) Soil do not disappoint with an inspired trio of support bands including Union underground, Nonpoint and HED(P.E), all of which electrify the crowd assembled in the full-to-the-brim SWG3 on a Tuesday night.
The Union Underground are going to get a big writeup as it’s been 22 years since they did anything and I’ve been waiting ages to see them. Like, since An Education in Rebellion came out. It seems I wasn’t the only one as the venue was rammed for their short set, with a lot of conversations outside focused on the opening band. A shout out to Rob from Ivory Blacks who was another like me who’d made sure he was there early.
The only let-down for their 7-song performance was that the sound was a little off, and I could barely make out Todd Osterhouse’s guitars. Everything else was coming through fine, and it was awesome to finally hear those songs live. It was obvious that there were loads of people in the crowd as excited as I was, as the band played through five songs from their only album plus the track they did for the WWF (as it was then).
But wait… that’s only six songs. Yes, there was a new one (“Faith Collapsing”), which it seems was a taster from a completely new album! No further details as yet, but after taking “a minute” (according to singer Bryan Scott), the band are well and truly back! Great news, and wonderful to have it delivered in the live setting rather than by a social media post.
Nonpoint energised the room with their own brand of heavy riffs and brutal vocals. As a new listener to them they left me wanting more so I have already subscribed to their socials and added them to my driving playlists to continue the obsession.
With eight songs, their set wasn’t too much longer than Union Underground’s, but like the openers they made the most of the time they had. With their rap/reggae-esque vocal style there will be obvious comparisons to Skindred, but their sound isn’t otherwise that similar. It’s great to hear, though, and makes them stand out from many other acts.
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Hed(pe) were a huge favourite with the audience and having them support Soil again on this tour is like returning to a familiar mix of genres that shouldn’t work, but the vibrant stage show and music from my youth gives me the feeling I’m home and ready to bounce the night away on the dance floor!
They took the reggae influence to the fore with their cover of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Get Up Stand Up” which has the crowd swaying, a bit of a counterpoint to the more active engagement to tracks like “Killing Time” and “Peer Pressure”. It’s when you get a set like this that you realise how varied Hed(pe)’s output has been over the many years they’ve been around.
Soil take the stage and the audience are welcomed to a flashback performance of the near-full Scars album, as poignant and gut wrenching as the day it was released in 2001. As Ryan McCombs takes the stage and delivers a greeting in his growling voice and the first guitar riff sounds you just know you are in for some heavy metal this evening.
While the setlist wasn’t going to be a surprise, there is a slight reorganisation of the order of tracks… and “New Faith” and “Why” are missing. Otherwise it’s understandable that the major change in running order is to keep “Halo” until the end. It is without a doubt their best known song.
With each song the mood of the audience lifts as well as their voices as we all sing along to our favourites. Scars is one of those classic albums that arrived at just the right time for me, and realising that it’s twenty three years old is quite something. Somehow, though, it just doesn’t seem to have aged unlike many of us in the audience! It still seems fresh, from the spitfire riffs of “Breaking Me Down” through “Wide Open”‘s heavier tones, and “The One”‘s anthemic feel.
The main set ends in a huge climax of “Halo” as everyone hoped for and left no one wanting. Shifting its position was definitely a good move as the expectation paid off the and place went crazy.
We did get a couple of bonus tracks, though (as any good album provides!). A rocking cover of “Black Betty”, and “Pride” from Scars‘ follow-up Redefine ended the evening properly.
An electrified performance, and I feel jealous I didn’t get tickets for every night of the tour.
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Photos by Alan Swan Photography
[…] finally saw The Union Underground for the first time after loving their album that only came out in 1996, and we premiered our […]