Belle and Sebastian@ Glasgow ABC, January 16th

“Belle and Sebastian fans smell like home-baking”, my friend whispered to me, shortly before the Glaswegian band took to the stage for the second gig of their three night hometown residency. I initially laughed off his ridiculous claim. Minutes later, however, I began to notice it too: a distinctly sweet scent of vanilla essence coming from the cardigan-wearing girls stood directly in front of us. This didn’t make any sense. When I go to a gig, I expect to be overwhelmed by the smell of musky sweat, stale smoke and spilt drinks. Not at a Belle and Sebastian concert, it seemed. But then again, Belle and Sebastian never have been your everyday kind of band.

Later, when the group graced the stage it became instantly clear that this was going to be quite a special performance. Being a 7-piece band, Belle and Sebastian’s current line up has always managed to produce a very lush and layered sound. I started to become incredibly excited, therefore, when I realised that the band had been extended to eleven, with a four piece string section also accompanying them. The effect that those extra musicians had on the overall sound was incredible: the opening song I Fought in a War sounded absolutely gorgeous and left the crowd in complete awe. People were momentarily reduced to stunned silence before the applause started. The set consisted mainly of songs from the bands forthcoming album, The Life Pursuit, with songs from If You’re Feeling Sinister and Fold Your Hands Child… also featuring heavily. The new songs sounded excellent and went down incredibly well with the crowd, with the tracks White Collar Boy and Sukie in the Graveyard being particularly popular and inspiring some incredibly enthusiastic dancing. Controversially, the band did not play a single song from their 1998 album The Boy With the Arab Strap and they also omitted a lot of live favourites from the set, including Dog on Wheels and The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner. People didn’t seem to notice or care, however, as the set was full of surprises, including rare airings of songs like Electronic Renaissance and Your Cover is blown. The highlight of the gig, though, had to be the storming improvised cover of AC/DC’s You Shook me all Night Long. During this song, lead singer Stuart Murdoch seemingly became possessed, and ditched his usually fragile sounding singing style for some full-on, screaming rock action.

All in all, Belle and Sebastian put in an incredibly memorable performance. Seeing the band play, you are not only reminded of how important they’ve been to British music over the last ten years, but also how vital and relevant they remain today. And their fans smell absolutely delicious.

Jed