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MARTIN STEPHENSON & THE DAINTEES / SCOTT MACDONALD
GLASGOW WOODEND BOWLING CLUB (THURSDAY 17TH DECEMBER)

By Stuart McHugh • Dec 24th, 2009 • Category: gigs
What makes the perfect gig? Depends what you look for in a night out, but how about: a band with a positive attitude, instrumental skill, adaptabilty, willingness to please… alongside songwriting and musicianship as well as interaction, entertainment.

The headliner has all this, but more of that later. As we reach the venue - one of several the sainted Sounds of the Suburbs team use, tucked away in a sidestreet in the west of Glasgow - we find Scott MacDonald, planning his setlist. A short chat later and we have largely chosen it for him - mainly drawn from debut album A New Heart, though there are great moments to come from the more recent Where Travellers Go. Five minutes later, he’s opening with ‘Laydown’, a great slice of Scottish folk, but certainly folk with a small ‘f’. MacDonald’s knack is for a simple tune well sung. When he’s on form - and on ‘Caravan’ and ‘Eagle Bay’ he certainly is - he’s up there with Dougie MacLean and King Creosote as a great Scottish songwriter.