John Grant - 1/2/19 | Billy Watson TV

I noticed only yesterday that John Grant was due to play in Glasgow and it said on facebook that it was sold out so I went to look for tickets on Gumtree.

Fortunately there were two tickets available at face value and so I arranged to meet the seller close to the venue.

I decided to take my son with me so he could experience a singer songwriter type of gig to try and broaden his horizons from the Heavy Rock music he normally listens to.

Luckily I did bring him because I had it in my mind that the gig was at the Royal Concert Hall but he told me as we got off the train that it was at the Kings Theatre which meant I would be slightly late for meeting the seller as it was a bit further away.

I telephoned him and that was cool cause he was eating at a nearby restaurant and was in no rush.

We picked up his spare tickets and he told us that we would be sitting beside him and his friend as their wives couldn’t make it…..thankfully for us.

As we went to our seats I saw this painting at the top of the stairs which shows a lot of the acts who have performed in theatre before, including of course, Billy Connolly.

My son asked me if he had been to the Theatre before but he was getting in it mixed up with the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh which he went to for a Pantomime with my family a couple of months ago.

I like to get there to see the support acts these days to make sure I get my moneys worth.

There was one time me and my friends were going to see The Boo Radleys and were listening to the Radio in the car which was playing live from the venue as we were partaking in some festivities.

The support that night turned out to be Oasis before they hit the big time and although I am not their biggest fan, it was a bit of a ‘Doh’ moment.

The support tonight was E.B The Younger which is a Monkier for Eric Brandon Pulido, the frontman of Texan legends Midlake who is about to release his debut solo album ‘To Each His Own’.

Here is a cool video for a single taken from the album.

He was just playing with a guitar and a sidekick on the keyboards and as you would expect, was very good.

He did say more than once that we were in for a special show by John Grant but seriously, I didn’t expect it to be just as amazing as it turned out to be.

His new album ‘Love Is Magic‘ is quite an electro affair but parts of this gig were like being at the best Rave night ever!

His songs from previous albums were great too and even my son was blown away by it and I think John himself was enjoying it a lot too.

He had legendary drummer Budgie in his band and he mentioned that he can’t quite believe it every night when he looks up and sees him in the corner doing his stuff.

E.B The Younger joined him for a great version of ‘Sigourney Weaver‘ and before he introduced him to the stage he explained that it was he who had called him up and convinced him to move from New York to Texas to record his first solo album after his band ‘The Czars‘ had split up.

So we had him to thank for John continuing to make music as he had all but given up at that point.

If you get the chance to see him on this tour you simply have to go. It was unbelievably good and the band got several standing ovations during the gig.

They were quite strict about their no photography or video policy so I couldn’t film any of the songs but in a way I was glad as it made me focus on just enjoying the experience a whole lot more.

At the end of perhaps his most well known song ‘Queen of Denmark‘, he lets the audience sing the last line which is in fact the title and afterwards he commented that it was the most beautiful audience participation of it that he’d heard. You can see it in the video below.

I took my son for a Chippy afterwards and it would appear that Justin Beiber had been there before us…..well, not on this particular night though.

I made my son take this photo of me attacking a big ‘cat’ as it was in context for a joke I had made on facebook as Nob Stewart eating ‘pussy’, although I didn’t tell him that.