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THE ANSWER/THE UNION, The Garage, Glasgow
7 March 2012

Value for money, something that is becoming harder to find in this day and age, so when a bill featuring two top class bands comes along for the princely sum of £15, well it would be rude not to. On paper this looked like a great night out with The Answer and The Union co-headlining with equal stage time with The Answer given the task of closing the show.

To entertain the early birds we had Leicester trio Skam who play a good line in fine melodic heavy rock. The band played a short, 5 song set with new single 'No Lies' and set closer 'Massacre' being the highlights. The band got a good reception from the growing crowd and left them suitably warmed through for the arrival of The Union.

I have followed Luke Morley's career for many years with Thunder and before that Terraplane, but until now I had heard little of his output with The Union.

With a now full hall, the band entered the stage to the intro track of 'Part Of The Union' and judging  by the reaction they received, there were a number of paid up members in the house.

Opening with 'Watch The River Flow' the band were in fine form with Luke and Pete Shoulder trading guitar licks with aplomb. The set was culled from both the band's debut album and their latest release 'Siren's Song' and all songs both old and new went down a storm.

The pick of the set list were 'Blame It On Tupelo', 'Step Up To The Plate' and 'Remedy' although there were a few technical problems throughout with Pete's guitar and the odd bit of feedback here and there.

By the time we reached the final number 'Siren's Song' though, the band had put any issues behind them and with the crowd chanting along to the chorus, the guys finished to resounding cheers. Job done.

After a quick stage change County Down's finest, The Answer, hit the stage and launched into a rocking version of 'New Day Rising' with some excellent guitar work, courtesy of Paul Mahon, from the off.

The vocal delivery of Cormac Neeson though is what gives the band its edge, the guy has a great range and uses it to great effect, he also never stands still for a minute, dancing and shaking his way through the set, his enthusiasm is infectious.

As with The Union, The Answer played a good mix of old and new over the course of the 11 song set. Their current single 'Nowhere Freeway' was one of the highlights and was given a complete reworking for the live show, starting gently with just guitar and vocals and building to a rousing climax. Preachin' was another number of note which found Cormac venturing into the crowd to spread the word, so to speak, and getting a good part of the assembled throng on their knees.

The main set ended with an extended version of 'One More Revival' with crowd participation in abundance. After a quick chorus of 'Happy Birthday To You' for birthday boy Cormac, the band returned to round off a triumphant set with 'Waste Your Tears', the perfect end to a great show.

This pairing proved to be every bit as good live as I expected and having them on the same bill is an inspired move. Value for money then, closer to buy on, get one free I would say, bargain !


Review and photos by David Wilson