The Sparks – Armadillo Glasgow 26th May 2023
The Mael brothers arrival in Glasgow brings with it a crowd of an older, and some would say wiser, age group who grew up listening to music when it was raw, rough and energetic without being over produced.
However, sprinkled through the crowd at Glasgows’ Clyde Auditorium was a noticeable number of younger music fans who had came along to witness one of the finest bands of the last 50 years.
Sparks have never really strayed far from our musical consciousness and have matured and moved with an unrelenting forward thrust whilst retaining elements of their core sound in everything they do. That sound is very evident in their latest, and 26th, album, ‘The Girl is Crying In Her Latte’.
This is most certainly not a ‘play the hits’ crowd and the venue is full of fans from all eras of the bands musical output.
The perfect song to start the evenings entertainment is from their 2021 musical drama, Annette, and is entitled ‘So May We Start’.
As vocalist Russell Mall stands with his hands wide open in question at the songs conclusion, there was never any need to question the audience response as it is received with cries of “yes” from the crowd.
If Russell is seen as the flamboyant of the pair then his brother Ron, resplendent in a fine suit, spectacles and the trademark moustache, can be seen as being equally flamboyant but in his own inimitable style as he sits behind his keyboard.
I wonder how many people noted the gaffer taped label with the name “Ronald” covering where would normally be the Roland logo of the well known manufacturer. What is even more hilarious, though probably completely unnoticed by most, is when you realise that the keyboard is actually made by Yamaha.
Title track of the album ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ follows and sounds as good, if not better, live as on the album and is accompanied by Russell Mael delighting the crowd with some energetic jumps and high kicks.
Dipping in and out of their vast back catalogue gives such a differing musical style to select from, and though almost half of the new album is played this evening, there is ample time for some older tracks such as ‘Angst In My Pants’ and the sublime ‘Balls’.
Eventually the hits do come and the crowd are fully on their feet, and defying the stewards who want them to sit down, by the time ‘The Number One Song In Heaven’ is played.
This naturally gives way to the utterly sublime, and most well known, ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us’. For anyone who had been sleeping up too this point, not that there was anyone doing that, then you would be wide awake instantly as the Clyde Auditorium erupted.
Ending the main set in a similar style to the commencement with the appropriately titled ‘Gee, That Was Fun’, the crowd Cleary agreed that it was fun.
The band are soon back for the encores before ending a very enjoyable evening with ‘All That’.
Some 50 years down the line from the beginnings of their career, Sparks prove that they still have it as a recording band and as a live performance band.
Photographs and Review by Gavin Ross
