Barry Can't Swim @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 9 Nov

Edinburgh native Barry Can't Swim's performance at the Barrowlands serves as testament to the unifying power of music itself

Live Review by Anita Bhadani | 12 Nov 2024
  • Barry Can't Swim

“It feels good to be back in Scotland,” Joshua Mainnie, aka Barry Can’t Swim, tells us a few songs in, smiling out at the packed crowd. Hailing from Edinburgh, it’s been a whirlwind few years for the musician. This year saw his 2023 debut album, When Will We Land?, shortlisted for both the Mercury Prize and the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award, and he’s been keeping busy on the festival circuit, racking up an enviable array of slots from Coachella to Primavera, Glastonbury to Montreux Jazz Festival – and far more in-between. It’s an impressive feat to have achieved in just four years of releasing his music publicly.

Tonight’s sold out show – the first of two at Glasgow’s iconic Barrowlands – holds a special resonance for him, as he reflects on gigs he’s attended here over the years. The feeling is mutual. The packed floor is charged with fervent energy: tonight, we alternate between feelings of being lost in the crowd at a festival, church or a rave, the difference near-indistinguishable. Arriving on-stage Mainnie opts for a transcendent opening, bathed in blue; bass bluntly vibrating through the floor and walls. But we’re just getting started.

Tonight cuts from ambient tunes to raucous beats, diving into Mainnie’s grab-bag of stylings with a blissful, free-flowing and near-constant energy. The circular energy from crowd to stage crystallises into glittering points of connection: our hands outstretched to the euphoric Deadbeat Gospel; Mannie taking little dance breaks every so often throughout the show. He’s accompanied on-stage with a sole keyboardist and animated backdrop changing in time with the tracks: it’s a fun set up that speaks to BCS’s ethos of crafting dance music that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Don’t confuse that for a lack of deeper resonance, though. Proving joy can contain as many layered complexities and nuances as sorrow, a standout moment comes as Mainnie plays us new material – starting unassumingly, it gradually rises, then explodes into a moment of pure utopia. If it’s an indication of things to come, the future looks bright for the Edinburgh musician. Cutting through the winter cold, tonight’s gig delivers a dose of bright energy and connection, serving as testament to the unifying power of music itself.

http://barrycantswim.com