I See Stars have been on the go for almost 20 years, so it’s amazing that they’ve not managed a headline show in Glasgow before now. That was set to be righted this evening, but beforehand there was the simple matter of a band. I literally laughed with glee when I saw a small table near the back of the venue with some merch on it. Lo Rays, who I saw recently ing Tiberius, had a few t-shirts on display. They’d been great at Audio, and apparently had been announced one a couple of days prior to tonight’s show.
Again, a polished show from the Finn-fronted Glasgow outfit. Given they’d been drafted in at fairly short notice, you couldn’t tell and their set was as seamless as the one I witnessed a few weeks ago. It seemed shorter but that may have been because I was enjoying it! I know singer Laura was excited to see the headliners, but Lo Rays didn’t rush their set and instead had the whole thing note perfect.
I could draft the same review as I did for that other show, with them being so close together, but the main thrust is – keep an eye out for them. They’re one of those bands that you simply want to do well. They’re multi-skilled, original, have a raft of good tunes and are superb live performers. I can only imagine what they could do in of stage effects with a decent budget behind them.
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I See Stars did me the favour of coming on quite early and not playing too long, which isn’t any indictment, it’s purely that I was knackered and had a lot to do! I’ll quickly get the negatives out of the way as none of them were any fault of the band. The lighting was bright, solid primary colours and all from the front, and the stage arrangement meant that the drummer was buried really far back and almost around a corner! I think the singer, Devin Oliver, recognised this fact as he was namechecked rather early on. Also, tons of stage smoke alongside the lights meant that the band were really hard to see, and made for a very challenging evening for our photographer. The samples and effects were a little low in the mix as well (maybe due to my crappy earplugs), so I don’t think I got the full effect of their electronicore.
Everything else was a positive. The band’s attitude was superb, they blasted through a mix of material from all throughout their career, and Oliver’s voice… good grief. His range is amazing, especially the upper end of the scale. He was very much the centrepiece, largely as he was at times the only person visible! In fact he was so hyper that within the first ten seconds, he’s twirled round and knocked the mic stand clean off the stage and had to retrieve it from the photo pit. His energy levels didn’t dip for the whole show.
Avoiding the palaver of an encore, I See Stars blasted through thirteen songs in their set, kicking off with “Running With Scissors” and closing with “Anomaly”. The audience were nicely rowdy and needed little prompting to get some action going by the time we were a few songs in, and the songs were as varied as they were catchy. While it wasn’t a huge crowd, it was obvious at a glance that they were loving the show and for many it will have been their first chance to catch the band live.
From the high-end notes of “D4MAGE DONE” to the breakdowns and heavy beats of “Murder Mitten”, I See Stars showed the breadth of the material they have produced since 2006. We can only hope that their next visit will see a run of dates, though the shows in Glasgow and London around their slots at Slam Dunk were definitely appreciated!
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Photos by Skull Lens Photography
