Grandaddy
The Liquid Room, Edinburgh, 29.08.2000
 

Almost crouched behind a bank of keyboards, trademark baseball cap pulled low down his face until almost meeting his beard, Jason Lytle is clearly someone who doesn't want the audience getting too close. There was even a sweatshirt draped across the gap between the keyboards. The act of intently playing and singing meant that the only time he popped his head above the parapet was to mumble to the audience how "we've played a lot of festivals recently so it's nice to be..." his voice tailed off and he gestured to the 4 enclosed walls.

The set was drawn mainly from their critically-acclaimed latest album The Sophtware Slump, but a few songs from the less introspective Under the Western Freeway debut broke up the slightly pedestrian tempo of the new material. AM180 and even recent singles The Crystal Lake and Hewlett's Daughter rushed along at a breakneck pace as did their cover of Pavement's Here, a track which Grandaddy have practically made their own. However, it was their self-penned songs that made the set, asking how a band who look like sci-fi geeks can make melodies that send a shiver down the spine. But, as always, the blend of wobbly synthesizer and lyrics which when they're about anything are usually on interstellar travel, all worked - crowd and band warmed to each other, and Jason even let down his defences by removing the protective garment from his keyboard stack and chatting with the audience. Summer Here Kids was even played more slowly than its recorded version, almost as if the band actually wanted to prolong proceedings and the lack of a second encore was the evening's only low point. Still, although Grandaddy might not always want to come into your world, it was nice of them to welcome us into theirs.

Copyright © 2000 Stuart McHugh