Scott lackadaisically wandered onto stage and broke into one of the biggest songs off Frightened Rabbit’s second album, Modern Leaper, followed swiftly by The Twist. He then announced that he hadn’t actually made a set list, to which there was an outcry of requests from the audience. He selected, Less Rude, providing a rare performance of one of their songs off of their first album, Sing the Greys.
Throughout the gig, the audience were not only kept entertained by the musical talents of Mr Hutchison, but were also suitably kept chuckling by Scott’s comedic commentary on his songs. Stopping halfway through Nothing Like You, he explained that in the chorus he always has to restrain the urge to palm mute along to “she was not the cure for cancer, and all my questions still ask for answers…” (Palm muting, for all those who aren’t musically minded, is when a chord repeated chord is played faster, but quieter. It’s predominantly used in genetic rock/pop/punk music, hence the jest.) The crowd were loving it, but whether it was the song, the palm mute, or the hilarity created by the combination of the two, it is yet to be decided.
Scott got his brother Grant out to vibe with him to Old Fashioned, where he grab a spare tambourine and brought his dulcet tones to the piece.
One of my personal highlights from the evening was the story behind the song, Snake. Scott explained about his heartbreak over “Midnight organ girl,” to which the audience gave supportive cheers and jeers, telling the audience about how he wrote a song about his and his girlfriend’s draft excluder, which was a multi-coloured snake, so as to woo her back when she moved to New York. It was funny, heart warming and heart breaking all rolled into one.
It was especially poignant as Backwards Walk followed it; to which the audience sang along, word for word. The emotional lyrics, “I’m working on erasing you, I just don’t have the proper tools. I’ll get hammered forget that you exist, there’s no way I’m forgetting this,” were so relevant and immediate to the emotion behind the story that it just made sense that the they went together in the set list.
Finishing the intimate glimpse into the emotional mindset behind the album, Midnight Organ Fight, Scott played Floating in the Forth. This song, which he doesn’t play with the band and feared that he’d “fuck it up,” talks about the suicidal thoughts that he was dealing with when writing the album, and openly said, “it’s just how I was feeling at the time.” It was just beautiful to behold the stories behind some of the most honest and beautifully blunt lyrics ever written.
He grabbed his Frabbit band mates for a broken down version of Living in Colour and Head Rolls Off, followed by Swim Until You Can’t See Land, which is was safe to say that Scott was pretty much drowned out by the audience participation.
After the Frabbit boys, the next special guest that Scott brought onto stage was the lovely James Graham from Twighlight Sad. The unnecessarily bashful singer helped Scott out with the vocals for their cover of the Halle and Oats classic, Private Eye.
Rounding off the evening with Good Arms vs Bad Arms, Scott then stepped on front of his mic and performed Poke entirely acoustically. The entire room filled with the crowds’ voices, along with the almost silent sound of his guitar; it was a beautiful way to end the gig.
The crowd wanted more, however, and Scott came back on to finally finish the set with Keep Yourself Warm, to which the crowd joined in, word for word and note for note.
We all knew why we were there and where our money was going to. But what the acts managed to do was equal the charitable efforts of the evening, with some spectacular performances, making the evening wholly and entirely sweet.
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