An excited and vibrant atmosphere hangs in the air as supporting act The Blinders take to the stage. Being a heavy metal band, they receive a different reaction from the audience than The View. Given The View’s genre of music, it makes the impromptu mosh pits all the more surprising and with everyone singing along and chanting in unison, it feels like a much bigger event than the intimate hall that is the Barrowland.
When The View do come on, the reaction is deafening and to the audience’s delight, a mixture of old and new songs are played that everyone dances to and sings along at the top of their lungs. Other people in the audience add to the amazing atmosphere by offering shoulders and piggybacks to smaller members of audience who can’t see over those in front of them.
The stage design is simple and effective, with pinks and greens used and a large heart on the screen behind the band. In some respects, putting The Blinders on before The View did not do either band justice as they are two completely different genres and many may prefer one genre over the other. However, both bands put on an impressive performance individually and succeed in getting the audience up and singing along.
Despite the audience singing along relentlessly, The View themselves do not interact with the crowd as much as they probably can. This does result in a feeling of slight detachment from the performance but the music, audience and atmosphere make up for this enormously.
Overall, an outstanding performance from The View and the perfect venue for a more intimate and energy fuelled event. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy heavy metal music, it is worth listening to The Blinders’ music to get a feel for a gig you wouldn’t normally choose to go to on your own.