Cast, with support from Dougie Scott and Searching for Donkeys, at The Ironworks, Inverness, 17/10/2015. A review.
Dougie Scott is the first of two support acts for tonight’s gig, the acoustic singer songwriter is a surprise in that he doesn’t necessarily fit the current mould of your average bloke and a guitar. You know the type; mournful, angsty, a bit intense… Dougie smiles. More than once too.
With husky almost whispered vocals it’s hard to pigeon-hole him into any particular genre. He certainly warrants further listening and this short set was enough to make sure I’ll be checking him out at future events.
Nary a foot is put wrong as they warm the crowd up very nicely for the main course.
Next we have Searching for Donkeys who are only increasing in stature. From their early days back at The Eagle bar, they have impressed with their work ethic, quirky marketing (those Frisbees) and strong song-writing skills that have led to bigger stages and crowds. A sizeable local and vocal following are justifiably enthusiastic as they pummel us with indie rock anthems that could easily give the headliners a run for their money.
‘One Way Home’ is a bombastic tune that is deserving of a much wider audience and, as their biog on Facebook indicates, crap music has it face properly slapped off. Nary a foot is put wrong as they warm the crowd up very nicely for the main course.
From their early days where a frustrated John Power left The Las to form a new band, Cast have always had the knack and ear for a good tune. Their début album ‘All Change’ was released nearly twenty years ago to the day to near universal acclaim. Along with Blur and Oasis, they were able to weather the storm of Britpop’s demise before finally disbanding in 2001 after the release of the contentious album ‘Beetroot’.
Reforming in 2011, they released ‘Troubled Times’ on pledge music which turned out to be a solid return to form. This, their third leg on their small Scottish tour, came with the rumour that the gig in Falkirk hadn’t gone down so well. The band left without playing an encore claiming that the crowd hadn’t showed them any love. Fans at the gig confirmed that the atmosphere was flat with a number of punters causing issues.
It was very quickly apparent that the Ironworks would have no such trouble judging by the reaction during the opening notes of ‘Timebomb’. There’s a mix of material played tonight, ‘See that Girl’ from their last album sits very easily amongst the older classic tunes that were more familiar to many and the newest track ‘Baby Blue Eyes’ gets a very enthusiastic reception.
The energy is scintillating and each song has the band’s life and soul poured into it.
The biggest cheers are reserved for songs off the first album, ‘Sandstorm’ and ‘Fine Time’ getting fists pumping. These songs might be twenty years old but the four people on stage aren’t acting like it. They, like Johnny Marr earlier on this week have the energy of bands twenty years their junior. ‘Elder Statesmen’ they may be, going through the motions they most definitely are not.
The energy is scintillating and each song has the band’s life and soul poured into it. ‘Free Me’ ends in a cacophony of sound with a drum solo from grinning lunatic Keith O’Neill who beats the skins like a man possessed. This final squall of noise brings the set to a close and demands for a return to the stage from the rabble down at the front of the stage.,
And do we get an encore? Well of course we do, unlike that lot in the Central Belt, we know how to treat our visiting artists. And so Cast return to give us a final bludgeoning with a rocky ‘History’ which eventually segues into the final song of the night, ‘Alright’ which finishes off my eardrums and reduces the Ironworks to mass of flailing arms and bouncing bodies.
Nice job Inverness. Excellent work Cast.
