Review: Del Amitri – Perth Concert Hall

 

The beautiful glass-fronted Perth concert hall looks warm and welcoming surrounded by twinkling Christmas lights, bar staff visible, lined up, ready to start sticking some money in the tills. Unfortunately, despite the queue snaking around the street by 6.30, the doors remain stubbornly closed til 7, and it is bloody baltic.

Like any band with a 40-year career choosing a set list is going to be tricky but with no new album to plug they can take a trip down memory lane and they do a pretty decent job of covering all the bases but with such a rich seam to mine, not every favorite is going to be aired tonight.

Perth is the second night of the Del Amitri winter Scottish tour, hitting Edinburgh before ending with a couple of homecoming shows at the Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom. Four gigs over five days is a heavy workload for anyone half the age of Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie – even more so when his recent Parkinson’s diagnosis is considered – but he strides on stage suited and booted and looking pretty chipper. With the briefest introductions, they launch into ‘Nation of Caners’ from the 2021 ‘Fatal Mistakes’ album.

I remember clearly when Del Amitri first came to my attention, back in the 80s on the James Whale show playing ‘Nothing Ever Happens’. Probably the first song I liked with a prominent squeeze box, and several years later as a student, a cassette of 1992’s ‘Change Everything’ spent a year as a near constant in my car and to this day, when Spotify decides what it thinks I want to hear in the car, a Del Amitri song never has me reaching for the skip function.

I never understood why Del Amitri never achieved the level of continued success they so richly deserved. Three hit albums in the space of six years from 1989 to 1995; ‘Waking Hours’, ‘Change Everything’, and ‘Twisted’ should be enough to guarantee national treasure status, but whilst tonight’s gig is packed with, as Greg Wallace might say, people of a certain age, there is a distinct lack of youngsters…they don’t know what they’re missing.

‘Kiss This Thing Goodbye’, ‘Always the Last to Know’, quickly followed by ‘Never Too Late to Be Alone’ from the ‘Twisted’ album are all warmly received but the sing-along really gets going with ‘Driving With the Brakes On’. There isn’t much between song banter but Mr. Currie and the boys (including the ever-present, and ever-impressive, Iain Harvie on guitar) are relaxed and seem to be enjoying themselves immensely.

‘Here and Now’ a Top 40 hit from 1995 – back when the Top 40 meant something – sounds as fresh as ever and is followed by a raucous ‘Stone Cold Sober’ which brings the main set to a close, and off the stage the band troops, readying themselves for the encore.

The encore is a left-field choice with the lesser-known ‘The City Loves You Back’ from ‘Fatal Mistakes’ launching a 3-song run. It is followed by a truly wonderful rendition of ‘Nothing Ever Happens’ complete with an extended Andy Alston accordion solo before the night ends with the equally-stunning ‘Be My Downfall’.

Catch the final night of this run on Monday 23rd December at Glasgow Barrowland. On this form, it’s going to be quite a party!

Del Amitri will headline ‘Summer Nights on the Southside’ in Queens Park, Glasgow on Thursday 26th June 2025, along with special guests King Creosote, Withered Hand + Kathryn Williams, and Alice Faye.

Review and all images – Callum Scott

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