The Follies returned to where it all began. The west end of Glasgow. It was during an emotional homecoming for Raymond Hacklands solo gig that Allan Fru and Amy Belle provided back up to give the night a fuller sound and leave the Captains Rest wanting more.
It was moments after the gig that they all enjoyed a nip of whisky and decided to form a band called The Follies. The hype machine went into overdrive when global megastar Miley Cyrus covered Glasgow born Amy`s song and they played their first official Glasgow gig at a sold out Oran Mor.
It was a pleasure to be at the front of house and to soak up Three geniuses at work for a long set that still left the crowd wanting more. In fact, Had it not been for Oran Mors curfew (A club – night was planned for later that night) these guys could have played way into the night with the audience hanging on every note.
They switched from songs that Raymond wrote such as `Scars`, `So Sublime` and `Only But a Star` mixed effortlessly with Amy`s `Stay Like This`, `Giving you up` and `All of These` before Allan took to the fore and played a touching tribute to his father , Ian by covering his beautiful song
`Moonchild` and also giving us some of his own material like `Lucyanne Maria`, `Running Blind` and `Denise`
You could tell instantly whose song it was and that`s when the other Two would take a back seat to a point yet still add a magical layer enriching the sound giving it a fuller flavour.
We were also treated to incredible special guests a plenty collaborating on stage with Brian `The Lips` Gillen wowing the crowd with world class harmonica playing, Jamie Duffin (Piano, Cajon) and one of the worlds best fiddle players Bruce McGregor who took to the stage without as much as a practise and blowing the bustling Oran Mor crowd away.
The highlights are hard to pick out but the well timed cover versions of A Johnny Cash song and Fleet Foxes got the crowd all singing along and my personal highlight was a song I`de heard many times before written by Raymond and his old friend Darren called `Crack a Light`
The talent on show was indisputable with fine crafted songs delivered with panach
e and luckily this memorable night was captured by a film crew with a DVD expected to hit stores later in the year.
They will also be playing a German tour (sponsored by Smokehead whisky) very soon with fans from all over the world flocking to see these guys in action. I`ve included the dates and links at the bottom of this review.
www.myspace.com/thefolliesuk
www.stevenallanimages.com
25th May, Ratskeller, Recklinghausen
26th May, Kultopia, Hagen
27th May, Kommisse, Wolfenbüttel
29th May, Rickenbackers, Berlin
2nd June, Südpunkt, Nürnberg
‘Like’ our Award Winning facebook page and be entered into a draw to win 1000 CDs including rare, signed and promotional copies here!