Nada Surf

Nada Surf

Apr 24

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY – HEAVEN IS A SMALL VENUE SPACE IN GLASGOW

When: 23 April 2018
Where: Stereo
Support: none

This gig was part of the ‘Celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Let Go’ tour and we got a lot of Nada Surf! Their first set was the Let Go  album in full and then they took a short break and came back and played another set. It is one of their best albums, capturing all that is best about NS, and so here we get in running order – although part way through one of the crowd shouted out that they had forgotten ‘Blonde On Blonde’  and so they apologised and played that next.

 

Matthew Caws (voc/gui) was in an amiable and relaxed mood. He comes across as a very humble guy. For example, as well as apologising for ‘Blonde On Blonde’ he also twice apologised for the fact that the original tour did not include Glasgow – the band had previously always played Glasgow when in the UK (always at King Tut’s?) and he had failed to notice the initial omission of our rainy city but their fans in the city had not and after an outcry he ensured that we added to the tour. And we are all very glad that they did as the night was a glorious advert for the band. Daniel Lorca (bs/b.voc) was resplendent as usual in dreads and headband and sang lead vocals beautifully on the one French song. And Ira Elliot’s drumming was consummate perfection, on most songs it is more subtle and quieter than the recorded versions (making the live versions even better) – he also mugged with elán as Daniel told a longish story of how he joined the band (a story which suggested they are all infused with a sort of British politeness).  The three core NS members were backed by a Louie Lino on keys who was also on very good form.

 

The first set was just joyful, with all songs played beautifully – the atmosphere was set from the first chord and didn’t let up until the last. My own favourite moments were – ‘Inside of Love'(superlative), ‘Blonde On Blonde’, ‘Neither Heaven or Space’, ‘Treading Water’. And the second set continued in the same vein – not surprising given the continued quality of NS’s song writing and recorded albums, You Know Who You Are was one of Mojo’s top 50 albums of 2016. Highlights included ‘Cold To See Clear’, ‘Neither Heaven Nor Space’, ‘What Is Your Secret’ and, among the three song encore, ‘Always Love’.

 

The average age of the crowd must have been nudging into the 40s, reflecting the band’s heydays, and there were few below 30 but they re-captured some of the raucousness of their youth – most notably in the final song of the encore, shouting out with relish the ‘oh fuck it!’ refrain for ‘Blankest Year’. Given the ageing joints their wasn’t too much wild bopping (but congrats to the energy of the bald guy near the front!) but instead the crowd was suffused with a continual outbreak of smiles and warm singing along – a real loveathon. Please come again soon!

 

Band page

Sample video