The Armadillo is a striking building at any time but tonight, illuminated by the wet streets and the dark backdrop of the River Clyde, it looked amazing
On arrival it was let known by staff that the top tier of the venue was closed due to poor ticket sales…
The crowd numbers were still impressive though… Red Box once sang “From the very very young to the very very old” and that was a perfect way to describe the audience.
There was at least one 90 year old woman there sporting her “I am 90” badge proudly on her jacket; at the other end of the age spectrum was the baby in ear defenders… a baby! Ear defenders!
The evening kicked off with Billy Lockett in the supporting role.
Sitting at the grand piano, stage left, he treated the crowd to a piano instrumental as his opener.
He then brought some low key, jazz tinged, songs to the warm up party.
He was easy listening and decent fun.
If he floated your boat then look out for his headline tour next year.
A relatively quick turn around saw the main man and his band take to the stage.
A confident stride and a fist pump brought Jamie Cullum to where he belongs… seated at the business end of a grand piano.
Kicking off with a Cole Porter classic was a clever start as the crowd was about to get a kick out of Jamie and his band.
Backing singers joined the party on stage as of song two; this brought even more dynamics both visually and aurally.
The gig galloped on at a fair pace with a mixture of original material and covers.
Paying homage to such luminaries as Nina Simone and Ray Charles, Cullum jazzed his way through the set and threw in a few left field choices by way of covers from Rhianna and Peter Gabriel.
These were some big shoes to fill but were water off a duck’s back to the diminutive Cullum.
Jamie and his band mates gave a magnificent and thoroughly enthralling night of entertainment for all in attendance and deserved the raucous fanfare at the end of the evening.
Twenty two immaculately performed songs in a fantastic venue (with friendly staff) was the tonic needed to prepare the audience as they egressed into a bitterly cold, wet winter night in Glasgow.
Review & Photographs by John Brown Photography
