The Scuffers support Hayseed Dixie #

Posted on: March 30, 2008 - 5:54 pm

Had to rush through to Glasgow yesterday after a little birdie told me The Scuffers were supporting Hayseed Dixie. To my shame I’ve never seen Hayseed Dixie before, despite being told of their genius loads of times, so the chance to blag free tickets to see them was not to be missed.

I must admit I didn’t make it to the ABC until about 7:55 and therefore walked in on The Scuffers’ third or fourth song. But it was quite good to hear the band as I came up the stairs, and then walk in to the ABC’s large main hall, mobbed with people, and see them up on stage belting out their honky tonk blues like, well, the proper band they are. I grabbed a pint and pushed my way down to the dancefloor in time for The Last Dance, which is turning into a favourite of mine. While the venue was busy most people were crushed into the bar area at the back leaving plenty of space for dancing down the front. Not that I was dancing like, as I said, I was only on my first pint. But this was a Hayseed Dixie crowd, which is a mixture of Heavy Metal and Country fans (you can imagine), and they were enjoying waltzing away in traditional barn dance style (that is, no idea how to waltz so just spin each other around).

Hayseed Dixie bass player Jake Byers - original image courtesy of Kris Taeleman.I had some idea what to expect with Hayseed Dixie but nothing can describe what these guys produce, it is pure rock and roll entertainment. The four of them, playing banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, violin and some kind of acoustic bass guitar between them, recreate classic metal and rock tunes, actually making them better than the originals. It has to be seen live.

Which brings me to a slight digression. Bands like this can’t really make much money from CD sales, they even made a joke about people downloading their songs, so the recordings are mainly a promotional tool for their live gigs. You can see from their touring schedule that they are rather busy. You would think this would be the standard for bands, but instead they focus on CD sales. If bands got a fair chunk of the income* for playing live then there might be less interest in the sales charts.

Back on the music, Loopallu, the festival Hayseed Dixie set up in Ullapool is on the 19th and 20th of September and may be my Festival of choice this year. No line up yet but tickets go on sale the 6th of October.

Songs:

Hayseed Dixie - You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC cover)
The Scuffers - The Last Dance

* The ABC was a sell out, that is a crowd of about 1600 people, most of whom were paying £14 a head. £22,000 from tickets alone. Not bad for one night.

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Comments (1)

  1. mrjonthehat, May 11, 2008:

    Great review.
    I’m sad to report that despite Hayseed Dixie’s involvement in the creation of the Loopallu Festival, the festival’s promoters decided to try for a wider audience in 2007, and dropped Hayseed Dixie from the bill, replacing them, as headliners, with Franz Ferdinand. It is highly unlikely that Hayseed Dixie will be there this year, which is a real shame in my opinion. There is a song on the new album, ‘No Covers’ which expresses the band’s opinion of the promoter responsible.

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