WHITE are an example of a band in Scotland making a considerable mark on our steadily burgeoning music scene. At the forefront of this charge is White – Glasgow’s finest new wave power pop band.
Using the word ‘finest’ might be a bit flippant but no, they actually are great. Packed in like sardines in the horribly cramped Electric Circus, the sweatiness of everybody is compounded until they find the space to dance. All these people of diverse generations are digging White – and White are digging them. For a band that has only had a few singles out, the turnout is quite spectacular. White are doing a pretty good job at reaffirming live music in the capital – a treat for the many packed in tonight. A treat to have both a Glasgow and Edinburgh date on the schedule and the energy reaches its peak when ardent power pop is brought to the stage.
Every member on that stage is almost equally charismatic, but frontman Leo Condie, who poses haggardly with the microphone stand like a cross between Bobby Gillespie and Jarvis Cocker, is a push further in terms of stagecraft. Occasionally his vocals merge Devo’s Gerard Casale and Talking Heads’ David Byrne together. ‘Living Fiction’ sticks out in the middle of the set like a sore thumb, and gets the crowd at their grooviest. Debut single ‘Future Pleasures’ gets the best of the crowd. The band insist on playing an unplanned one-song encore because of the crowd’s boisterous demands.
This gig, or their first UK tour, poses the question of who is going to be the next great Scottish music export? Who is going to be the first Scottish buzz band since Franz Ferdinand to headline Reading and Leeds? We all thought Glasgow’s own Casual Sex would do that – supporting the aforementioned band in America once upon a time – but it genuinely looks as if White are going to be the band that will really take off.
This UK tour that sees the band play some of the biggest cities in the country could be the final opportunity to witness White in such a confined venue. Tonight, it’s Glasgow’s turn.
