Keir Gibson @ The Tooth & Claw 16/03/2024

Rating: ★★★★

The Tooth & Claw Rating: ★★★★

Where we stayed: My house (Got to love local gigs)

SETLIST:

Eyes Wide
Watch You Leave
As Lost As Me
Think Twice
Weak Ties
Keeping Up Appearances
Burning House
Brave/Break
Too Deep
When Nobody’s Left
Hear Me Out (Acoustic)
Footprints
Hollow
Kill You In My Mind
Circles

This was my third time seeing Keir Gibson. I first heard of him when he opened for Clean Bandit, the well-known British electronic group, at The Northern Meeting Park in Inverness, last summer. He actually ended up being the highlight of the evening for me, since I am not Clean Bandit’s number one fan (although they are very good) and I honestly only really attended the event because I was already in Inverness that day for work and was on the lookout for another concert to blog about. I am a fan of Ella Henderson, who was the second opening act that evening, but had already seen her twice in close succession. I took note of KG as soon as he mentioned he was also from The Highlands, as you don’t hear about many singer-songwriters up here. I was instantly drawn to his music, as well as his sense of humour and sincerity. I made sure to follow him on Spotify and Instagram, to keep up with his new releases and cover videos. I saw Joe Jonas (from The Jonas Brothers, who we are seeing in June) react to his cover of ‘Montana Sky’ from their latest album, which hopefully gave him a huge boost, introducing new people to his music. When I saw his name on the Belladrum line-up, I knew I had to fit his thirty minute set at The Seedlings Stage into my schedule. Immediately afterwards, I booked a ticket for his headline show in Inverness, which he was very excited to promote. I feel a real connection to his songs and to the lyrics, in particular, which are always incredibly relatable and well thought-out. The stand-out song for me has to be ‘When Nobody’s Left’, since I also escaped to California for a short while and, although it met or even exceeded my expectations, I ended up missing home. His headline shows in September were pushed back to March but I held on to my ticket and even purchased a second one, after encouraging Paul to come with me and see what all the fuss was about. During the six month wait, KG released an EP titled ‘Weak Ties’, which features a number of songs he has released throughout the past year as well as some brand new ones. He is very active on social media and signed a bunch of posters in the run-up to these events, which was a nice touch and shows how much he appreciates his fans. He did The Poetry Club in Glasgow the night before this, where he performed a lot of the songs on this setlist for the very first time. It’s a shame I had to work all day but I soon regained energy after downing a couple of wines at The Tooth & Claw before the show and soaking in the brilliant atmosphere.

We were the first couple of people up the stairs when doors opened after 7pm, which was funny since I had been insisting on hanging back and playing it cool. The stage was quite low and photographers began to dominate the front row, so we crept in as close as we could get before Archie, the opening act, came onstage. We had never heard of him before but were very impressed, especially since he is only twenty years old. There were girls around us talking about how they knew him from TikTok, which is an app I have never used because it wasn’t around when I was a teenager and I had formed negative preconceptions of it. I should probably just suck it up and make an account, since it has been made clear you can find talented local musicians on it. I’m not actually sure which part of Scotland Archie is from but KG had two different opening acts in Glasgow – Fraser McLean and Shears. He opened with a fun original song, which captivated the crowd, before launching into an energetic cover of ‘Stick Season’ by Noah Kahan. We felt a little out of the loop when people were encouraged to sing along with the chorus, as we weren’t all that familiar with the song. I definitely need to listen to more NK, as he is popular right now and undoubtedly very talented. I know he recently filled out The OVO Hydro in Glasgow and released a song with Sam Fender, which I have added to a playlist I regularly go back to. I have now followed Archie on Spotify and look forward to his future releases, as well as revisiting the songs he performed on this occasion. He shared with us the title of his upcoming single, ‘Colourblind’, which he promised to release in the next couple of weeks. Inside information like this is one of the many reasons I love going to live music events, as I get to feel like part of a secret club. All of his songs were memorable and my favourite of the night was ‘Olivia’, which he had hoped to perform for someone of the same name in the room but nobody admitted to being called that. He pointed to a girl in the front row and said she can be Olivia for the night and it was hilarious, as it looked like he had pointed at Paul from my perspective. He told us he has written songs with KG and he is one of the most talented people he knows, which got us even more hyped to see him. He performed with confidence and it is obvious from his charismatic stage-presence he has a lot of experience. Hopefully he has gained a heap of positive attention from these tour dates, as he deserves it.

KG and his band waded through the crowd and took to the stage shortly after Archie finished up and dived straight into the first song of the night, ‘Eyes Wide’. It was lovely to get to hear these gorgeous songs again, now I know them a lot better than I did last time. I don’t think the backing tracks were necessary (for both KG and Archie) as I felt they detracted from the live aspect but maybe this is a personal preference. The music sounded very upbeat and suitable for a lively Saturday night, so this isn’t even a real criticism. A few unreleased songs were sprinkled throughout the set, which was a welcome surprise and made the night even more special. I was excited all of the songs were originals, as I wrongly predicted some covers would make their way in to fill up the time. I don’t think there is anything wrong with adding covers but am delighted to see KG constantly working on new music and having this much material to share with us. I really enjoyed hearing his stories behind each of the songs, giving us insight into his song-writing process and allowing us to develop a greater appreciation of the music. ‘Think Twice’ has an interesting backstory, being written with a stranger he met at a Halloween party after his friends abandoned him. He said it ended up being one of his favourites from the writing trip and it’s strange how things can work out in the end. ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ is about being with someone for the wrong reasons and he said he can’t remember which songs he has released snippets of but that he would fear for his safety if we somehow already knew this one, which was hilarious. He recorded ‘Burning House’ with a friend over Zoom, which made me think about all the crazy things which are possible these days. He gave a shout-out to his dad, who was somewhere in the crowd beyond the first two rows he could make out. He played the fiddle in the recording of ‘Brave/Break’ and they joke about how quiet it is but he assures his dad it is definitely there. He encouraged us to sing along to the “ooh’s” in ‘Hear Me Out’, which are easy enough to copy, even after a lot of alcohol. He was onstage for around an hour and was thoroughly entertaining throughout. His voice is incredible and has a real vulnerability to it, which I love. Paul had a better time than he thought he would, going in not knowing exactly what to expect. It’s hard to say what my favourite new song was after hearing them only once but I hope I won’t have to wait too long to refresh my memory!

We got out before 10pm, which is much earlier than I am used to for events like this. I was extremely happy about that, since my feet had started to ache from being on them all day. We swung by the merch stall again before leaving and I decided to pick up the ‘Hollow’ canvas bag, in addition to the ‘Nothing Alike’ t-shirt I got on the way in. There was another t-shirt available but I didn’t look at it closely enough to read the lyrics and figure out which song it was associated with. I liked the colour of the one I picked better and adored the retro TV image on the back, which matches my tattoo. There were also posters like the ones he signed online and QR codes linking to his social media pages. It seemed like the items were close to selling out, as the lady gave me the bag which was lying on display. KG announced he would be in the next room if anyone wanted to come and say “hello” but I couldn’t think of anything original to say, so was content leaving with the goodies we purchased. I can’t fault the venue at all and each of the staff members we encountered were incredibly friendly and helpful. There was a slight delay getting us all upstairs at the beginning but these things are to be expected and the show times weren’t affected. They said they would let us know when it was time to go upstairs, as you have to exit the pub and go in another entrance. I will definitely keep an eye on upcoming events, as it was a very relaxed and pleasant experience. It will be great to attend more gigs in Inverness, instead of always having to travel so far away. It is absolutely fantastic to have a place like this in Inverness, since The Ironworks closed down. I’m sure The Tooth & Claw has been on the go for a number of years now but I am new to the live music scene, so this was my first time going. They often have music acts at the weekends but they tend to sell out (like this one), so it is best to check the website and book tickets in advance to avoid disappointment. In fact, I might head over to their website right now!

GALLERY