It was 4th time lucky as Eels and their Hurricane tour, which had previously been cancelled 3 times, finally made it to Glasgow Barrowlands.
Kicking off the evening was The Inspector Cluzo, an eccentric pair of farmers from the south of France who played their first-ever gig in the nearby and similarly legendary King Tuts. With a lineup and a producer shared with the White Stripes, they also came out with some blues inspired hard rock. They intertwined their farming themed set (“RUNNING A FAMILY FARM IS MORE ROCK THAN PLAYING ROCK N ROLL MUSIC”) with long stories to the crowd about their history, love of Scotland and Iggy Pop’s penis. I am not sure Eels fans were expecting a waistcoat adorned stage diving drummer but that is what they got regardless during the ~10 minute mostly instrumental “Put your Hands Up” in which they had the crowd chanting the chorus for them.
With a 2001: Space Odyssey parody playing the long-awaited Eels then came to the stage in tuxedos and got straight down to business playing tracks from their 2022 album Extreme Witchcraft without comment. After a little time to settle in Mark Oliver Everet (E) started joking about the band’s aging lineup, “We may be old as shit but we can still rock like shit” as he explained the projected announcements every time a band member’s fitness tracker reached their target.
“I thought you would be oldies” proclaims E as their set moves on from the newer material to play 3 speed and other older material with I Need Some Sleep prompting a crowd singalong. With a career spanning more than 30 years and an adoring fan base Eels don’t need to be flashy but E’s effortless charm and self-deprecating humour make seeing a band feel like meeting old friends. “That could be 17 of our songs” jokes E as the crowd cheers after hearing the first 3 chords of All the Beautiful Things.
The big hits Novocaine for the Soul and I Like Birds get the crowd expectedly pumped as the beginning of the end proceeds. E announces Baby Let’s Make It Real as being the last song “before we play the charade of leaving the stage” as their encore is extended to 2 charades with the band ending their second encore with a surprising rendition of God Gave Rock and Roll to You.
Playing 2 hours worth of music, Eels manage to feel nostalgic and fresh at the same time and have built up a fanbase that felt like it would have been happy listening to 2 hours more.
Words & pictures: Dale Harvey @daleharvey