Hunter and The Bear at Inchyra Arts Club

Jings!  This is the quickest turnaround I've had for a review yet. I got in from the Hunter and the Bear gig just before midnight and the review is due to go live today and I've got work and college all Monday. Rock and Roll!  I had been looking forward to the gig all week as I’ve been listening and enjoying their debut album Paper Heart on Spotify since it was released on Friday and I was relishing seeing them live at my favourite Perthshire music venue.  

Hunter and the Bear have made some pretty bold claims about their prowess and potential as a live proposition.  Recently lead singer Will Irvine said “We want to be the best live band on the planet… I guess a lot of people are aiming for that.  We’re going to beat them to it”.  Of course everyone knows that Scotland’s own Teenage Fanclub are the best live band ever (I can prove it on a pocket calculator!).  However I wanted to see how close Hunter and the Bear could get to this high water mark.

First though I hungrily wolf down a delicious Moroccan lamb tagine and enjoy a stripped down acoustic performance from Glasgow’s November Lights playing as a three piece tonight.  It was a really strong set with some deftly crafted songs, highlights included She Cries and upcoming single Lonely (out on the 26th May). 

After a short interval Hunter and the Bear come out of the gates strong with album opener You Can Talk.  Lead guitarist Jimmy Hunter is already giving it laldy, hair in his face, spinning around the stage like Neil Young or Jimmy Page on a second encore.  As the show progresses it becomes clear that these guys have spent a lot of time playing together and are a really tight unit.  An excellent Whiplash style solo by drummer Gareth Thompson turns into a scene from Stomp as singer Will grabs a set of drumsticks and joins in.  My favourite track from Paper Heart, Whose Gonna Hear You is a real standout with its swaggering intro and it’s anthemic chorus.

There is a nice change of pace with the lovely ballad I Am What I Am.  Wills fingerpicking is complemented perfectly by Jimmy’s atmospheric lead guitar work and harmonies by the whole band.  Chris Clarks bass is really at the fore on DRK, its awesome introduction reminiscent of the Beastie Boys classic sabotage.

A really special moment came when the band unplug their instruments and come into the audience for an acoustic version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah with Jimmy Hunter on lead vocals and the the band singing harmonies with a little help from the rest of us.  As the night starts to draw to an end we are treated to an encore, one of the few non-album tracks of the evening, Burn it Up from their Wildfire E.P.  Which really gets the crowd pumped up and morphs into Hendrix’s Hey Joe with perhaps a hint of Kashmir by Led Zeppelin. 

The final track is Won’t You Ever Come Home another song with really nice harmonies and lyrics that reference Bruce Springsteen.  After a quick stop at the merch stall to buy a hard copy of the CD it was time for me to head home to write up the review and sort through and edit the photos that my compadre Scott Ferguson took.

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Download Hunter and the Bear's New Album on Itunes HERE > 

Check out November Lights Itunes page HERE > 

For More Information on Upcoming Events at Inchyra Arts Check Out Our Directory Listing HERE >>>