GUN 02/12/09
Apart from the odd charity gig Scottish Rockers GUN have been silent for more than 10 years since their split in 1997. But at the ABC last night they were firing on all cylinders again as brothers Dante and Jools Gizzi returned to the stage in Glasgow with new singer, ex Little Angels vocalist Toby Jepson, and drummer Gordon McNeil.
Gun took to the stage to The Sensational Alex Harvey’s band’s cover of Tom Jones’ ‘Delilah’ playing over the P.A. But a packed out ABC weren’t there to see the four men shake their hips. They were there to see them rock. And an hour and a half later they sounded like they had desolated the place.
As soon as the first few notes to ‘Welcome to the Real World’ the crowd were bopping up and down, despite the fact many men in the crowd were in the process of losing their hair. The set opener was followed by ‘Don’t Say Its Over’ of their ‘Swagger’ album. The first major highlight of the evening was when new singer Toby Jepson introduced Jools Gizzi on lead guitar as he launched into the epic ‘Taking on the World’.
The emotion in the song charged through the hall as the crowd belted out every word to the song. The hits kept on coming as they played their way through four albums worth of hits. Toby Jepson has slotted in well with the band and this was apparent on new songs ‘Let Your Hair Down’ and ‘Seraphina’ were he has managed to add to the songs with his singing style. He announced to the crowd although he was English he still felt like he had came home by playing in Glasgow because that’s where the rest of the band are from.
Another highlight was Bass player Dante Gizzi moving to the centre of the stage to sing ‘Something Worthwhile’ which he sang on ‘Gallus’
Jools Gizzi warned the crowd that Dante might sound rough because he had been on the Jack Daniels all night the previous evening.
Dante denied this at first before owning up generating huge roar of approval from the crowd. The band finished the main set with a rendition of ‘Steal your Fire’ from their ‘Gallus’ album. When Gun returned for an encore the crowd were waiting with anticipation for their biggest hit. The band kept them waiting a bit longer by playing a cover of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Fight for your Right to Party’ with Daniel Leigh from support band, New Device. When that was over Jepson thanked the crowd coming back out to see the band after so many years. And with that they ripped into word up.
Despite many fan’s scepticism over not having singer Mark Rankin return Gun appear to keep going on strong as they have found a capable singer in Toby Jepson. He might not be Rankin but he knows what the songs mean to the fans and he gave it his all.