Review: Frightened Rabbit at Pie & Vinyl and the Wedgewood Rooms

SCOTTISH INDIE ROCKERS RETURN TO THE WEDGE FOR THEIR PAINTING OF A PANIC ATTACK TOUR

Tuesday evening saw Scottish quintet Frightened Rabbit visit the city. The band have been a favourite of mine since their debut album Sing The Greys a decade ago. It was three years ago since the boys last took to the stage at the Wedgewood Rooms but before they returned the band took part in a small instore session at Pie & Vinyl on Castle Road.

Of course the Pie & Vinyl team weren’t going to miss the opportunity to celebrate the band’s performance in their own unique style. In tribute they created the ‘Rabbit Food’ pie which was available for the evening, it consisted of butternut squash, mushroom and pepper pie in a green Thai curry sauce.

Lead singer Scott Hutchinson left the rest of the band sat down enjoying a spot of dinner while he entertained the crowd with just him and his guitar. He began with the new album’s standout track, ‘Get Out.’ Scott allowed the crowd to choose the playlist and they clearly knew their stuff. Whenever Scott put it out there what track would they like to hear next it would be without hesitation that someone buzzed in with their request. We were treated to favourites including ‘Loneliness’ and ‘Old Fashioned.’

This was the first Pie & Vinyl in store session that I’ve managed to get to and it was a privilege being to be there Scott perform a very different set than the one I was about to see. After a swift beer in the re-launched King Street Tavern, it was off to the Wedge for the main event.

Like earlier in the evening, the band began with ‘Get Out’ which was follow by ‘Holy.’ Now Scott was joined by the rest of the band it was a much different set. The heavy guitars of ‘Living in Colour’, ‘Fast Blood’ and ‘Woke Up Hurting’ reverberated around the Wedgewood Rooms. Referring to the crowd’s enthusiasm Scott commented that it didn’t seem like a Monday, he had to be reminded that it was Tuesday! You can forgive a band for not knowing what day it is when they are mid-tour.

Frightened Rabbit saved the best to last and finished the set with ‘Death Dream’, ‘The Woodpile’ and ‘Loneliness.’ This performance has to go down as one of my all time favourites at the Wedge.

Supporting came in the shape of fellow Scots, PAWS. The trio are no newcomers to the music scene as June saw the release of their third studio album No Grace. I’ll confess that I didn’t know about the band beforehand but I was enjoying their punk sound. It reminded me of my younger days and likes of Green Day and Blink 182. I wasn’t too surprised to find out that Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus was involved in producing the latest album.