“This venue has a special resonance for me.“ explains James Grant as he takes to the stage in the historic Glasgow City Halls for the much anticipated concert ‘James Grant and the Hallelujah Strings’ “It’s where we premièred ‘Dogs in the Traffic’. He describes this 1991 Love and Money album as “The best thing we ever did.”
And so James Grant comes full circle to Glasgow City Halls for the best gig he ever did.
Admittedly he has called in some help to achieve this. Not only has be assembled a band who read like a Who’s Who of the Scottish music scene, he also brings us the orchestral delights of The Hallelujah Strings.
The Strings add a dimension that even the iconic original Love and Money performance did not include. Grant’s songs are powerful even when performed acoustically, just solo guitar and impressive vocal. This phenomenal musical collective provides a wall of sound that is truly, epically immense.
From the engine of Gordon Wilson’s drums to the vertiginous heights of the soaring violins, every note, chord and vocal harmony weave together to become even greater than the sum of its multi-talented parts. The result is a musical event that defies description, and will be long remembered.
The opening track is ‘My Thrawn Glory’, showcasing the lush, voluptuous strings as counterpoint to Grant’s passionate and powerful vocal. The ecstatic response from the crowd draws a small smile from this teller of grim tales. Even the self-effacing Grant cannot deny that the result is as near perfection as makes no odds, and his audience knows this.
The orchestra is a delight in every sense. Not only do they look and sound beautiful, “They smell magic too. That’s what classical training does for your personal hygiene.” Grant informs us, dead-pan. He has promised to keep the patter to a minimum, and immediately breaks this promise. No-one complains.
For the dark and introspective ‘Piglet’ he is joined by Monica Queen providing backing vocals, before becoming uncharacteristically optimistic for ‘This could be The Day.’ The set is generous and well rounded, with crowd pleasing tracks from solo albums ‘My Thrawn Glory, and ‘Sawdust in my Veins’; the Love and money releases ‘Strange Kind of Love,’ ‘The Devils Debt’ and, of course, ‘Dogs in the Traffic.’
This is not the first time the Hallelujah Strings have joined Grant on stage in Glasgow. Donald Shaw had a great influence in bringing this collaboration to Celtic Connections in January 2016. So it is fitting that Shaw takes centre stage on the Steinway for the stunningly moving “Does It All Add Up to Nothing” before the fourteen- piece orchestra swells the sound. The purity of piano, strings and vocal result in a piece that hits the audience like an emotional sledgehammer.
Grant is aware of how important that Celtic Connections show was to this current performance. “When we did this show before, I loved it so much I really wanted to do it again. It became obvious that the strings added another dimension, particularly to some songs, especially ‘I Can’t Stop Bleeding.’ He goes on “They underscored it emotionally.” The emotional input is far more varied that you might expect. Yes, there is poignancy and pathos, but The Strings also bring a dynamism and energy that is entirely fresh and new.
As he prepares to give us this augmented version of ‘I Can’t stop Bleeding’ Grant grins “It’s always been an miserablist anthem.” Despite the miserable lyrics the audience has rarely seen Grant enjoy a gig so much, he is obviously delighted at the culmination of the hard work leading up to this moment. “I’m totally loving this; it’s very much my bag.” he admits.
New to me is Grant’s cover of the 1948 release ‘Nature Boy’, made famous by Nat King Cole. A simple arrangement of strings and outstanding vocals it is utterly arresting in its power; the Bond theme that never was.
All restraint is thrown to the wind as the band up the ante and the tempo. The supergroup consists of Ewan Vernal, Brian McFie, Douglas MacIntyre, Donald Shaw and not forgetting (although Grant did) the aforementioned Gordon Wilson. The collective experience of this set of veteran rockers is significant, and most obvious in a robust version of ’The Devil’s Debt’ as they raise the roof with old school rock’n’roll excess. ‘Strange Kind of Love’ belongs totally to Ewan Vernal’s hypnotic, insistent bass guitar.
As a musical event it is a triumph, acknowledged by audience and performers alike. A lovely moment is the sight of the first-chair violinist throwing back his head to laugh in sheer delight at the big beautiful noise they produce, and the reaction that it provokes from the audience. Grant voices the band’s obvious feelings: ”We’ve had an absolute ball…”
They finish with perennial favourite “Winter” which has the audience leaping to their feet in appreciation. Grant looks genuinely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the well deserved standing ovation.
He encores with an incandescent version of “Starman” in tribute to the late great David Bowie that has the audience singing, waving and generally blown away.
This collabaration is undoubtedly a career high for Grant and friends, and surely demands to be repeated. Soon.