Now solo but still as talented.
As Emma Pollock came on stage in the early afternoon sunshine, a little flashback occurred in this writer's mind. Back in the summer of 2000, the Gig on the Green festival kicked off an amazing weekend of music and football action in the fair city of Glasgow and there was a similarity to this year's Indian Summer. There may have been no footie action (not that any match would live up to the memorable match of that year) but as the warm sum encouraged drinking in a Glasgow Park, the voice of Emma Pollock brought back the chiming sound of the Delgados and how they kicked it all off.
Perhaps it was the sun, perhaps it was the alcohol but it was brought home how good a voice the singer has, by the second track of the day, it was impossible to get the thoughts of Ronnie Spector and her strong vocals out of my mind. Even in the Delgados it was obvious how much of a talent Pollock was but their strength was in the band element and the teamwork, they showed. Now under her own name, her own talents shine even more to the fore and should hopefully trigger off enough good memories to encourage fans of the band to follow her on. Emma would be the first to tell you that she has an important band behind her, and even though it was her new drummers first show with them, the backing band were extremely good.
This was best heard on their version of Emma's debut single, which was really catchy and very upbeat. With a pumping keyboard and racing tempo, it was an early highlight of the day and was influential in a lot of clapping and mid-afternoon swaying from the crowd.
The final song of the set was entitled 'The Optimist' and with that typical perverse twist appeared to be the most downbeat track of the set but just as the song appeared to be drawing to a close, the band swooped upwards and there was a striking similarity to Radiohead's 'My Iron Lung' in its climax. With an album due for release in September, the opening set of Indian Summer laid more than enough markers to ensure that the name of Emma Pollock remains pencilled in highly for the rest of the year.