REVIEW | The Bottom Line – The Attic (09.01.17)

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It was time for our first pop punk show of 2017, which came courtesy of The Bottom Line from London, who were dropping by Glasgow for the premier night of a UK tour in support of their new EP – I Still Hate You.

With a mixture of familiar faces and new acts to discover, it was set to be a good night.


The first of the familiar faces were Century Thirteen, who got the ball rolling really well as they showcased a lot of newer material which sounded really good. As always, they brought peppy melodies and solid guitar work to the table.

They were also quite active, in particular bassist Dale who was hopping around like a steaming kangaroo, throwing and catching his pick so many times you could make a drinking game out of it, and eventually leaping off the stage entirely.

There was some timing issues here and there, but it was without a doubt their strongest performance to date.

*

Northern Nightlights followed and opened up with the D-Generation X theme song – as a wrestling fan, that had us gushing – and immediately fired out the gates with Shout.

Cracking stuff overall here, as we have come to expect from these guys, with Paul displaying his gruff, booming voice that paired perfectly with Andy’s cleaner harmonies. The riffs were great and the rhythms intense, especially in the likes of Such A Shame and Don’t Save Your Breath.

In the almost 3 years we have known these guys, they have only continued to improve in our eyes, and at this point probably rank among the finest pop punk acts in Scotland; right up there with Campfires and Woes.

On a side note, we had a little chuckle at Paul’s mic cable coming loose out of nowhere and cutting him off.

*

Lost In Stereo had the task of impressing us, as we had never seen them before, and we are happy to say that they did so in a big way.

Lots of energy spewing from all the band members, with frontman Ellis leading the charge; a clear passion shining through from behind the microphone.

Every song had their notable qualities and got us bopping our heads along, with the definitive highlights being Hold Me Back, the bouncy Summer Blockbuster and what was a superb rendition of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off.

Very entertaining on the whole, with little flaws to speak of, and we can confidently add them to our list of must-see Scottish pop punk acts.

*

Now that the hometown boys all had their turn, it was time for The Bottom Line themselves, who had been highly anticipated by many.

At first, it was a little flat, as the crowd were just not into it. Not out of disrespect or anything like that, but being a cold Monday night in January, you were not going to be moving much. But you know what, that did little to stop them; on the contrary in fact, as they were absolutely determined to get the people going.

From the word go, they were egging everyone on and encouraging participation. Slowly but surely, that did happen, and it was by the third number – Pull Me Out – that they started to make their mark.

From there on, there were different intervals of clapping, jumping and singing from members of the audience, and they had them all hooked with their cover of Teenage Dirtbag. It would all reach a pinnacle in the second to last tune, when Callum took it upon himself to scale, launch off the speaker and go for a little surf.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of the entire set is when they brought everything to a sudden halt for an impromptu drink off to give someone a chance of winning a free shirt, as opposed to paying the £20 asking price for it. A brave soul by the name of Shawn stepped up to the plate and gave it a shot. While narrowly losing, he got himself a shirt anyway.

In the end, The Bottom Line were a lot of fun, and they deserve all the credit in the world for working their butts off to transform the show from an okay one to a special one. Best of luck to the guys for the rest of tour, and we hope they managed to not make drunken fools of themselves while in Glasgow like last time…

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