The Music Box is a simple, straightforward venue. It’s spacious with a balcony, good acoustics and a bar tucked right in the back so that if someone needs a little liquid encouragement to dance, it can be achieved without also having to lose his or her view of the stage. The bass booms from the speakers, up through feet and legs without rattling chests. Concert-goers can feel the music without feeling battered by the end of the night. To top it off, for this particular show, plenty Glasvegas fans filed in (including a quasi-famous face or two), anxious but not rowdy, making it impossible to ask for a better mid-size Los Angeles venue experience.

A Tuesday night in Hollywood brought out a mixed crowd: everyone from the city’s most fashionable couples to low maintenance high school students texting back and forth. Standing in the middle of the room after an uplifting set from Ida Maria, the crowd was buzzing with an amiable energy, the perfect lead-in for Glasvegas, which made it both confusing and disappointing that their set proceeded to be overwhelmingly, well, mediocre.

Although they are from Scotland, Glasvegas’s lead singer, James Allan, fit right in with a handful of the trendier Hollywood folks in the audience, wearing sunglasses at night, indoors. Behind him, the rest of the band were clad in similar shades of black, ready to begin their set as a room full of onlookers greeted them with a healthy cheer. It had all the makings of a huge start, but after three songs and still no explosion of sound, it was time to start doubting the promise of magnificence. Five songs in, it was time to give up the ghost.

Their music ranges from ethereal instrumentation to pounding beats, heavy on the toms. It’s always refreshing to see a female drummer–one that stands throughout the set, even–and after each song, the audience applauded but there was never a point that warranted an uproar of collective cheer.  The closest the night came to that moment might’ve been right before “Fuck You, It’s Over,” when singer James Allan announced that “this song is a little romantic number. So if you’re next to a man, grab his cock and balls…” Everyone present was more than willing to chant the chorus. There’s nothing like a little profanity to lift the energy in a room, but the fact that this burst of energy lasted a mere minute or two during the eitre set means there were aproximately eighty other minutes spent waiting for something bigger to happen.

Glasvegas aren’t bad, which makes it harder to settle for ‘passable.’ They’re instrumentally solid and they seem to lose themselves in a performance; but they definitely work best when playing an extreme – ethereal or gritty, guitar-driven anthems like “Go, Square, Go.” Otherwise, their songs muck around between the two ends of the spectrum and start to muddle together, losing definition. This allows the audience time to zone out into the projector that plays random black and white movie clips and religious imagery that doesn’t seem to have any immediate connection to the music. It allows the audience time to consider the fact that The Pantages down the street lets out about the same time, and maybe it won’t be a huge loss to leave early to beat the crowd; or any numbers of thoughts signaling waning interest.

Overall, Glasvegas fans seemed to put in a whole lot of enthusiasm that wasn’t fully returned. To their credit, the band did play a surprisingly amazing cover of The Korgis’, “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime,” during the encore. The blend of dragging verses and the frenetic chorus stole attention and held it, and for a while, Allen didn’t seem like a lackluster remix of The Bravery’s Sam Endicott. It proved that Glasvegas can find the spark in a performance. But, although a few flashes of brilliance are appreciated, they lack the ability to captivate from beginning to end.

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Los Angeles

One Response to “Glasvegas @ Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theatre – July 28, 2009”

1. New reviews, new content coming, and a Green Day fan proves that, yes, girls can rock « :: castanet clap :: says:

   August 11, 2009 at 2:30 pm

   [...] Check out a couple of recent album reviews I did for Stereo Subversion. There’s also this live review of Glasvegas that I wrote for Green Shoelace. There’s a new layout on the way, and I’ve been [...]