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Raintown at CC Music Shop – West End Festival

Part of West End Festival

On Sunday, 14 June, 2015, I went along with Jim and his dad, Jimmy, to catch Raintoun perform at CC Music Shop, 33 Otago Street in Hillhead.  

I’d been hearing a fair bit about the band, described as ‘the hottest new duo in the Country/Americana scene.‘ Maverick Magazine, so I was looking forward to the gig. We headed down to CC music at three o’clock but the gig hadn’t yet got off the grounds so we took the opportunity to have a stroll round nearby Kelvingrove Park and catch a bit of the Mela, the Asian Cultural Festival.  A very colourful, lively and busy event.

We picked up some coffees at Offshore on the way back to the gig and arrived to find a full house with every seat taken.  Unfortunately, we missed Scot Nicol’s performance, but I managed a chat with Scott, who blogged on my site a while back when he was on an American Tour. He was in great form and spoke very enthusiastically about, Chloe Marie, who’ll be peforming at CC Music on Sunday 21 June, 2015.

Steve Caban, owner of CC Music, no doubt recognised Jim as a loyal customer over many years, and he made us very welcome – rigging up a wee seat for us out of a sturdy amp box.  So we had a great view of the stage for ‘Elemental’ the blues band, who did a fine job in warming up the small, but very appreciative, crowd.

We were pleased to spot the incredibly talented Stevie Lawrence, guitarist and bouzouki player with the Duncan McCrone Band, Fiona Cuthill as a duo and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. We haven’t seen Stevie perform for a while so it was good to find that he was on the bill – performing with Raintown.

The duo, comprising Paul Bain and Claire McArthur, was also backed by Paul’s brother, Scott Macpherson on bass. They immediately engaged with the audience with their upbeat confident approach and they are definitley made for the stage. Claire was particularly happy as her brother and her small niece and nephew had come along to see her perform.

Some of the audience had apparently come quite some distance to catch the band and they lapped up their performance as they played songs from their debut album Hope in Troubled Times.  I particularly enjoyed the country ballad Picture of Us with the lovely melody and great harmonies. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcuF5rMMs2Q – another cracker was the up tempo Writing On The Wall. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVJWvaLVtpM

They also played some great tracks from their second album, soon to be released. I enjoyed Right Here With Me – most of all I liked the very catchy Nineteen Again so I was delighted to find the performance from the gig on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGmfmKEIpdU

It was a small, intimate gig, which worked really well for them and CC music’s fabulous array of guitars made an excellent backdrop, however, it didn’t take much imagination to see how the duo would shine on the big stages at some of the prestigious  venues they’ve already played.  Things are definitely looking clement for Raintoun.

Pat Byrne, June, 2015

Raintown Upcoming Gigs

27 June, 2015 – Nairn Community Arts Centre
1 July, 2015 – 100 Club, London

4th July – The Leopard – Doncaster
5th July – Library Theatre – Darwen

www.raintownmusic.com/

www.ccmusicshop.co.uk/

IAIN FORBES @ The West End Festival + KING OF BIRDS + CHLOE MARIE

21 Jun 15:00 – 18:00 – Glasgow
CC Music Shop, 33 Otago Street, G12

Join us at CC Music on Sunday 21st June for a performance by one the UK’s finest virtuoso guitarists, the award winning Iain Forbes plus the exciting acoustic duo that is King of Birds and singer/songwriter Chloe Marie.

This is a FREE event in association with the  West End Festival
Call us on 0141 339 0566 for more info.

This section: Gig Guide plus Club Events, West End Festival 2015