WATCH OUT FOR THE SHARKS! GEN AND THE DEGENERATES BRING WILD AND WITTY LIVE SHOW TO GLASGOW

LIVE REVIEW | GEN AND THE DEGENERATES – GLASGOW MCCHUILLS 23/05/24

A wet and wild spring evening outside Glasgow’s popular live haunt, McChuills, and tonight it’s Preston based Gen and The Degenerates who are busy loading in to into the lively venue.

If you haven’t been acquainted with Gen (Genevieve Glynn-Reeves) or her Degenerates – Sean, Jacob, Evan and Jay – then this evenings performance is a generous introduction into their shark friendly, queer positive alternative punky universe. Having released their debut album Anti Fun Propaganda back in February, Gen and the Degenerates skipped the whole album in store tour thing in favour of heading stateside. Playing alongside iconic Celtic punk band Flogging Molly across the USA, returning to home turf left the band keen to get back out on the road. Following a packed out Sound City headline appearance at Liverpool’s Jacaranda earlier this month, the official tour starts here, in Glasgow.

Just after 8:30pm and the rumbling base line of ‘Kids Wanna Dance’ draws the sparsely populated crowd towards the cramped but cozy narrow stage. A tight capacity space, McChuills is a unique space within Glasgow’s city centre. A low tunneling bunker style room with no natural light or air flow, yet this is the kind of ambience that punk thrives on.

Wasting no time getting stuck into the the fan favourites, next up is ‘Girls!’. Originally recorded alongside Glasgow band Uninvited, it’s a pity they haven’t made an appearance on tonight’s line up. Regardless, they absolutely smash the performance.

Stopping often between tracks to interact with the local crowd, Gen is full of charm and natural wit. “This next song we wrote as a fuck you to our label” shares the singer before bursting into the satirical ‘Big Hit Single’. Equally ironic ‘Post-Cool’ invites fans to don their sunglasses before Gen introduces a brand new offering ‘Charming’. Not lacking on the crowd participation efforts, by the end of ‘Charming’ we are crouched to our knees, crossing our hearts and hoping to die – all in the name of fun.

It’s a fairly short set for a headline act tonight. Around 30 minutes into the show and Gen tells us they only have 3 songs left to play. There’s an appreciation that they have only just released their debut album, however as a band Gen and The Degenerates have been releasing music for over 3 years now and their current repotiore very much surpasses the 50 minute set length. Being treated to some of their earlier tracks like ‘Underwear’, unreleased efforts such as ‘What A Life’ and their epic album closer ‘Jude’, the Preston quintet are keen to showcase their dynamic abilities.

Finishing up with album title track ‘Anti-Fun Propaganda’, it’s only around now that the audience look warmed up and ready to play. Disappearing off stage, chants of “one more tune” echo across the chambers brick walls before the band decide to return and treat their fans to “just one more”.

“We don’t usually do encores” tells Gen, “We’ve not really practiced this one” before the quintet rock into another unreleased new tune. For the second time this evening, the ‘sharks’ are unveiled onto the much expectant crowd. All in the name of fun, they allow the crowd to share a moment of unity, but in such a tight venue, it’s only a couple of seconds before you are being whacked with a 4ft inflatable shark again. Unable to really watch or listen to what’s on stage, I suppose the ending came a bit sooner tonight. It’s just one more though, and after less than an hour of music, the gig is over. Admittedly a little disappointed it is over already, but equally already reflecting on the unique night of fun we had.

Despite the shorter than average set list and losing half a drink to a shark, I wouldn’t hesitate to encourage others see this band and personally I will definitely be a repeat degenerate when they return north of the border. All five members of the band are seriously good performers and they genuinely look like they enjoy what they do on stage. A band worth getting smacked in the face by a giant inflatable shark for – and that’s a strong statement!

The tour continues this week in Brighton, London, Bristol and Nottingham – TICKETS HERE

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Anne Kelly

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