They’re always bold, and they’re always ready to give a show 110% – that’s Hard Life in a nutshell for you – and they lived up to that standard last night with an incredible show at Glasgow’s SWG3 venue. Let’s get into it.
Opening for the night was Woody – an artist I hadn’t come across before, but you bet he went straight on my playlists as his set was done. Fusing together indie with dreamy pop, I instantly fell in love with his sound. His track ‘Gone Fishing’ made me want to take off on a road trip and detach from the world. He’s the kind of artist you want to play on loop on a road trip, and I cannot recommend him more. Woody treated the audience to an insight into his discography – a personal favourite has to be his latest single, which came out in July – let me go. 100% check this man out, I am very impressed and will keep an eye out for any future Scottish dates.
Known for making an impact on their environment, Hard Life didn’t just walk out on stage – oh no – the sound of bagpipes filled SWG3 before the band walked out – frontman Murray Matravers swigging a bottle of Buckfast – he’s one of us and we love him. The one thing I love about Hard Life is they have more energy than you think is humanly possible, but those lads just LOVE performing, and it’s the best thing ever to see, and as a fan watching, you know they’re eating up every second of being on stage.
Tears, Sunday, Sangria and Daydreams kicked off the show – with Murray telling the crowd how much the band love Glasgow – revealing they only play Scottish artists backstage when they’re up here – and that the drummer’s mum is from Coatbridge – what a small world. He even changed into a kilt midway through the show – can we just adopt these lads in Scotland yet? Yellow Bike, Peanut Butter, Petty Crime and Octopus had the audience chanting every word back – with Murray jumping on the piano during crickets, which was a really nice touch.
There was a consistent vibe all night of people just loving being there and proud to be a fan of Hard Life, there was several emotional moments of the band talking about their journey to where they are now and even mentioning that donations at the merch stand were going to a charity hospice for one of their dads – leading on to dedicate Maybe in Another Life to them. Pockets had the audience on each other’s shoulders, and when the second Skeletons started the play, the crowd lost it.
You’d easily forget it was a Tuesday night in Glasgow as Hard Life brought the party atmosphere to the West End of Glasgow – firm favourite moment of the night has to be Murray getting on the shoulders of their guitar player during Ogres. There aren’t many bands that are known for consistently keeping up the energy and delivering their all from start to finish night after night, but Hard Life did this.
Not only did we hear an array of tracks, we also got to hear tidbits from how the tracks were made, their background and of course – how much they love Scotland before an encore of End Credits. Rounding up the night by inviting the crowd out to Sauchehall Street after for drinks, Hard Life won over the Glasgow crowd, and we already cannot wait for them to come back soon.
Review by Lauren Page
Photographs by Lynsey Wyllie
