Iceage @ The Great Eastern, Glasgow, 6 Sep
Celebrating their latest album Beyondless, Copenhagen's Iceage play a thrilling set fuelled by The Great Eastern's hallucinatory energy
As we walk into The Great Eastern ahead of tonight’s show, a certain sort of ambience is made clear to us. This place is essentially an infant in the grand scheme of Glasgow venues, having just opened its doors to shows like tonight’s this year but, more interestingly, it operates outwith the live music sphere during the day as an elderly care centre – poetic justice if ever we’ve seen it. Walking into the main body of the building, we’re met with a room that’s more school gymnasium than it is somewhere you’d expect a post-punk gig to be held but maybe this will set the tone for what the rest of the night will bring.
Tonight’s support, Josiah Konder walk onto the stage and before they say a word we already have an idea of what we’re about to witness. The room is lit as if we’ve just been thrown right into Twin Peaks' Roadhouse, red and blue drenching the band as those in attendance turn around to stare at the stage, no doubt clocking the bassist wearing a scientist’s lab coat in the process.
When Josiah Konder start we’re instantly thankful they haven't prioritised style over substance and the group flesh their songs out with a very textured performance; their guitarist not content in having one role, regularly switching between guitar, bongos and accordion throughout. Just when we thought we'd been swooned enough, frontman Julius Ernst might as well have signed the lease for The Great Eastern’s stage right there and then as he starts to troll about the place victoriously. Balancing on the very tight barrier, he jumps off to join a dancer adorned in bright yellow clothing who's been moshing about the front of the hall for a good 15 minutes, at no point losing his Archy Marshall crooning.
Having just been exposed to some Lynchian surrealism in its purest form, our expectations for Iceage are high as we ponder how they’ll manage to top that. Opening their set with Hurrah, it's like a telepathic response. We don’t expect the Danish punk outfit to verge outwith Beyondless too much but it’s not like anyone in The Great Eastern is complaining. While the hallucinatory energy of the venue isn’t able to magically conjure up Sky Ferreira to appear, Pain Killer is no less invigorating live than recorded; triumphant horns and battering drums pulverise the building as frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt really sells his performance as a man overcome with desire.
Acting as the band’s maestro, Rønnenfelt dips back and forth between the audience and the stage. This acts as a Poseidon-like call to arms, the moshing section at the front rippling in all directions like a frantic wave about to crash on the sandy shores. Thieves Like Us is presented in such a way that we can practically feel the dust and sense the boozy saloons its title conjures, Iceage transporting us on a voyage and not even breaking a sweat in the process.
Much to the thrill of the crowd, Iceage hit out with some of their best cuts from 2014's standout record Plowing Into the Field of Love, The Lord’s Favorite being just as commanding now as it was upon first listen. As Beyondless track Catch It closes the show, we’re hit with the realisation of how rare an occurrence it is to be a part of a show like this – where sinisterness and beauty coexist in such a way that one is never truly dominant, where a band seem to be fully in control and aware of the dynamic they’re at the helm of. Sure, we’re having to cut the night short due to the early curfew but as we leave the venue it’s satisfying knowing the good this place serves around the clock.