All the way from the shores of Red Bank, New Jersey, come rock giants ‘Monster Magnet’ who played Glasgow’s much moved music venue ‘The Garage’. This anticipated gig saw Welsh rockers ‘Those Damn Crows’ playing the support slot, although I use the word ‘support’ loosely as the Welsh boys have a great following here in Glasgow and this gig seemed more like a double-header.
The show started bang on time and Those Damn Crows took to the stage and wasted no time at all diving into the first song of the evening, ‘Who Did It?’ which is on their 2020 album ‘Point of No Return’, released Feb 7th through Earache Records. The guys carefully navigated the stage which was filled with Monster Magnets equipment. The guys had barely enough room to manoeuvre into their position.
The busy stage left the band with only a few feet to move but they didn’t let that hamper their performance. I must admit I was a little disappointed, but the upside of this was that the drummer, Ronnie Huxford was front and centre and for once I had the privilege of photographing a well-lit drummer, as the front of stage lighting was pretty good.
The band put on a great show and they played their hearts out, although I felt their frustration of the less than sufficient space on the stage. Singer, Shane Greenhall, Moved about the stage as carefully as he could with one eye on his footing as he belted out pitch perfect vocals.
In between songs roadies jostled past the photographers to exchange guitars in the pit as doing so from the stage-wings would be nigh on impossible, so the gig had a bustling vibe about it, but that’s not such a bad thing! The highlight was when greenhall came up to the balcony and crouched in a very precarious position and leaned over the edge where a 30, odd foot drop awaited any false move. I was up on the balcony a couple of feet away, ready to spring into action with Ninja like reflexes should he have lost his footing! The showmanship of These Damn Crows was on point and naturally the fans lapped it up.
The stage was cleared and reset for Monster Magnet who strode on with rock n’ roll attitude and swagger! Singer Dave Wyndorf Held his guitar aloft, over his head towards the crowd and the fans went wild! In no time at all the guys blasted into their first song ‘Atomic Clock’ which sounded great.
The lighting was not ideal for Monster Magnet, a harsh white up-light splashed on Wyndrof’s face for most of the set, which was not too flattering, but certainly gave a more surreal appearance to the charismatic front man.
Monster Magnet played exceptionally well and delighted the crowd with tracks such as: ‘Tractor’, ‘Baby Gotterdammerung’, ‘Space Lord’, ‘Dopes to Infinity’ and ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead’. These New Jersey rockers pulled all the stops out and put on one hell of a show for the fans. Truth be told, this was one really great show that both bands clearly and visibly had a great time performing.
There was a great range of merchandise available to purchase, which is my weakness and where I go straight to first at a gig. Support live music and buy the merch! Go see Monster Magnet on this awesome tour. You’ll be glad you did!
Review & Photography by Steven Scouller for MPM
