Kyle Falconer at Botanic House Friday 7 March 2025
Kyle Falconer returned to Inverness, and Botanic House, as he kicked off the tour to promote his new album “The One I Love The Most”. But first there was the small matter of three, yes three, support acts.
The early arrivals at 7.30 were welcomed by Dylan Tierney more than ably accompanied on keyboard by Kenna Ross. Although the layout doesn’t lend itself to having an early crowd up close and personal, the tables beyond filled up quickly and Dylan’s set caught their attention, limiting the early chatter. Dylan appears to have been around forever and it is easy to forget that he is in his mid-twenties. He continues to hone his craft and even without his full band is able to construct a set playing on the strengths of his voice, guitar and Kenna’s keys, even if the guitar can occasionally overpower the keys. The set is melodic but gritty and at times digs towards a stateside roadhouse feel. Mixing new songs and old, especially those from his 2022 album “Old Misty Road”, highlights included ‘Have You Ever’ which lent towards both Dylan (Bob that is) and Cash, and set closer ‘Live To Dream’.
With his big vocal, and big smile, Ben is sure to have that effect over the summer months
With fairly quick turnarounds, next up was Ben Walker, who is no stranger to Inverness having recently played the Tooth and Claw. Opener ‘Sixteen’ had more than a nod towards Sam Fender but this, on its own, would not give the full picture of Ben who put together a varied set showcasing both his powerful voice and percussive guitar style, notably on ‘Just A Boy’, and managed to fit in a couple of covers which worked with the demographic. He read the room well with his renditions of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In the Dark’ and The Lumineers’ ‘Ho Hey’. Ben is one of those acts that you hear at a second stage at a festival and are drawn in, and spend the rest of the weekend telling everyone about the act that they missed. With his big vocal, and big smile, Ben is sure to have that effect over the summer months.
Overall this was impressive, and showed that they have many strings to their bow
Thurso’s finest Forgetting the Future was the final support before the main event. Anyone expecting the usual full throttle performance were in for a little surprise when singer Robbie McNicol was set up perched on a high stool. A semi-acoustic set ensued with Robbie on acoustic guitar and Sean Cowan on the smallest drum kit that I have ever seen. However, what was lost in physical energy was captured in a controlled performance which gave greater focus to Robbie’s delivery and still created that unmistakable Forgetting the Future wall of sound.
Their cover of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Modern Leper’ worked perfectly in this setting blending the original with a heavier nod to the Biffy Clyro cover on the ‘Tiny Changes’ album. Overall this was impressive, and showed that they have many strings to their bow, and if this was your first time seeing them live you should see them when they have a full tank, and drum kit, and as mentioned by Robbie that will be at An Seomar in October.
The crowd were very much up for it from the off with an opening singalong to ‘Grace’.
With Kyle Falconer due on stage the space in front began to fill in anticipation. Kyle appeared on stage flanked by Neeve Zahra to his left and Drew Palmer on his right. Kyle’s album, ‘The One I Love The Most’ is a re-imagined collection of songs with women’s names from, not only his solo ventures, but The View’s back catalogue. The crowd were very much up for it from the off with an opening singalong to ‘Grace’. This was very much the theme for the night, as was the pace. There was no let up, and between songs Kyle would, at speed, give an insight into the next song. If you didn’t know, you would have by the end of the night, that ‘Claudia’ was his wee dog and ‘Lilly Anne’ was a reference to Los Angeles.
The first section of the set focussed on the album and the latter songs saw a couple of covers and non-album tracks. The first of the two covers, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Go Your Own Way’ was an opportunity for Neeve to shine, but it didn’t quite work out that way with Kyle and Drew dominating the vocals. This was acknowledged by Kyle, and righted for their take on the Eagles’ ‘Take It To The Limit’. And what a take it was. Up until this point Neeve’s presence had been limited to tambourine and backing vocals, but now we were graced with a voice straight from the home of country music.
With time fast approaching the end of the evening Kyle squeezed in ‘Tacky Tattoo’ and ‘Family Tree’ before realising that they were down to their last song. And that could only be one and I doubt that he would have gotten out in one piece if he hadn’t played ‘Same Jeans’!
Kyle, whether solo or with The View, always puts on a show. It can be a little chaotic at times but always endearing. Tonight was no exception.
