THE SNUTS TAKE ON THEIR BIGGEST HEADLINE SHOW TO DATE
Instantaneously selling out two back to back shows at Glasgow’s SWG3 Galvanisers Yard, there’s not many Scottish bands who could pull off what The Snuts achieved last weekend. Over 8000 enthusiastic fans gathered in their masses over the two sold out gigs in the city’s open air stage. In just over 5 years, the young indie band have gone from playing pub nights in their small ex mining hometown of Whitburn to their biggest headline show yet. With other notabilities by such as an Official UK Number 1 debut album and a global tour supporting Louis Tomlinson, there’s definitely something special going on with The Snuts.
Kicking off their over 90minute set with the glorious new single Gloria, the band waste no time getting stuck into their incredible back catalogue of fan favourites. Earlier singles such as Seasons and Maybe California create a shared sense of fan nostalgia. The energy in the yard escalates with radio friendly tune Knuckles and the anarchic anthem Burn The Empire completely raises the non existent roof off. There’s a sneak peek of new song Dreams but the biggest treat of the shows first half of is the surprise guest appearance of Glasgow rappers Bemz and Psweatpants during Cosmic Electronica. Bemz is well known to The Snuts fanbase making appearances at previous gigs which include Brixton Academy and their TRNSMT main stage debut last year. This was a first for Psweatpants though who will hopefully will see his own mainstream popularity soar soon.
There’s a strong sense of belonging and dedication with The Snuts that the fans revel in. Fanatics from all over the UK have made the journey to Glasgow’s West End for this special weekend of events. The Snuts fans aren’t like ordinary fans and whether this is round 1 or round 62 (just ask Snuts fan group admin/superfan Tony Lumsden about that one) you are more than welcome. It’s like one big extended family united by passion for this ordinary group of talented young men.
There’s monumental pause in the shenanigans when front man Jack Cochrane takes centre stage to deliver the bands biggest and well known track to date, Glasgow. A goosebumps worthy moment of reflection for the crowd to soak up the atmosphere of the evening. Watching the pure ecstasy of the crowd that night is something that will stick with me forever.
The second part of the evening is dedicated to back to back ‘belters’ from the bands two albums to date. Ending with an extra special encore which included the the rarely ever played No Place I’d Rather Go and What’s Going On. A real treat and a mark of respect from the band themselves to indulge their loyal fans with something frankly extraordinary.
By now, The Snuts are an incredibly tight four piece and could easily take on stages twice this size and own every moment of it. With bigger stages comes so much more opportunity to diversify their routine. They utilise the space and the screens on show to turn the event from a gig to a spectacular show. The only downside to the bigger stage though is it impacts the dynamics of the band. They don’t quite bounce off each other like they did before. Frontman Jack is very much (and rightly so) the main focus of the night, however from my front left spectator spot I missed seeing Callum, Joe and Joko in my view, who with Jack, make up The Snuts unit.
This duo of shows represent a real transition moment for The Snuts. Having recently dropped their Parlophone Record Label, they have chosen to go independent and create their own Happy Artist Records where they will eventually release album number 3 in the not so distant future. Their music and image reflect this change and they genuinely appear to be ‘happy artists’. Whatever happens next, The Snuts army will only continue to grow stronger.
All Photo Credit Hope Simmers Pix