By Daffs (TwoDaff)

When I heard, The Superlatives were coming to Inverness I was over the moon to say the least, we are quite gig starved up here due mainly to location…it is a fair old trek North.

After being forewarned by Rob that the lads wouldn’t be on stage until after midnight, I was very surprised, even more so when the time was changed again to 12:30am. I think it surprised them a little too. I think the reason was down to the management of the venue in that it’s a pub rather than a dedicated gig venue meaning they wanted to keep the punters in.

This obviously didn’t deter, originally the band were to play in the upstairs venue (Mad Hatters) but again this was changed to the downstairs main bar of Hootenanny’s, usually set aside for more traditional Scottish artists, such as the opening act which went down well with the attendees who, I have to say were not gig goers just on a Saturday night out.

By the time Charlie, Jamie and Tom took to the stage we were into Sunday morning. Right from the start they punched a hole in the Inverness sky, even the sound check blew a hole in the roof and sent the aforementioned upstairs venue into orbit.

“Even the sound check blew a hole in the roof”

Opening with the classic, ‘Sonder’ the scene was set, I have to say I haven’t seen so much energy put into a set as I saw last night…from start to finish every track was a hundred miles an hour, loud brash and right in your face. Powerful drums, and rumbling bass lines that  hit you in the chest with aggressive guitar riffs and a vocal delivered with style! You could see they were really enjoying the nights shenanigans, great banter with the audience and they loved it.

“Rumbling bass lines that  hit you in the chest”

I did a bit of people watching, and have to say at first the reactions were a little bit disappointing but that really changed, so by the time they played their latest release ‘Altered Times’ which is, in my opinion their best song to date, the crowd were fully on board and into it. Even the balconies were beginning to feel the vibe, including one guy who, according to Charlie had “The biggest F****n sideburns he had ever seen”

‘Gypsy Fighter’ raised it up another notch and more people were beginning to file in, and joining in, all around the bar from the gyrating groups at the front to the people at the back, people were dancing, nodding in approval. The whole 13 song set including songs such as ‘CN73’, ‘Hitting the Ground’ and a new one entitled ‘Fat Arse’ was pure power, energy, really loud which is what you should expect and hope for. As we troopedoff backhome in the early hours the ears were still ringing, further proof that the set was delivered as it should be LOUD!

The band are tight as anyone I have ever seen; every track was nailed to perfection in my opinion. How this band have not been picked up is beyond me, they have a repertoire of classic songs, delivered with precision, to fully appreciate them you need to see them live. Sadly, for me I don’t think they get the recognition they fully deserve, I mean they played last nights set, to perfection, giving everything. There are no Superlatives…well actually there are…Fantastic! Added to this they really are a great set of lads, after chatting to them before and after. They just love to perform.