Gerry Cinnamon, Barrowland Ballroom, December 2018

Gerry Cinnamon blitzed the world famous Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow last night and he’ll be back to delight his army of fans and do it all over again tonight.

The Barrowland Ballroom was packed long before Cinnamon took to the stage and the pre-show build up was more fun than most bands/artists actual shows. The pre-show setlist pumped out classics from The Temptations, Oasis, Dylan, Bob Marley, Neil Diamond and more, sing-song after sing-song to ensure that the crowd was in fine voice for Gerry taking to the stage. Hands were in the air, people were on shoulders, people had their arms around their mates and strangers and people sang from their hearts with smiles on their faces. As I said, this was pre-show.

The last song on the playlist really got things going though as KC and the Sunshine's Give It Up blasted through the speakers and the crowd chanted Gerry Cinnamon, Cinnamon, Gerry Cinnamon to  the tune. 

Dramatic music took over and Cinnamon took to the stage with the usual twinkle in his eyes and smile on his face. The ovation he received was incredible. Check the video from YouTube below.

I mentioned Oasis earlier in the blog. The way Cinnamon is connecting with people, the way that kids are picking up acoustic guitars to learn his songs, the way people are singing them like terrace anthems, is comparable to the way Oasis and Noel Gallagher connected with kids in the 90's.

I was fortunate to attend the two Oasis Barrowland shows back in December 1994 as an 18-year old and those shows will stay with me for the rest of my life. I looked around the audience last night and saw plenty of young teenagers hanging on to every word from Gerry's mouth in the same way I did as a teenager. I saw the way they went crazy to the songs, singing, jumping, punching the sky - and me and my mate Robbie joined them, lost in the music and the atmosphere, young at heart and feeling euphoric.

Robbie is another person that Cinnamon has encouraged to (re)pick up the guitar, only he is considerably beyond his teens!

What a show! Cinnamon was on fire, bounding around the stage, shouting to the crowd are we in? and then positively answering his own question with a loud yyyyeeeessss and cackling his beautiful laugh that made the whole Barrowland Ballroom know that he was enjoying himself as much as the crowd. Audience and artist were one last night, it was pure and powerful, there was total euphoria, an incredible atmosphere.

Cinnamon played his album in full, including a couple of tracks he rarely plays live and one, War TV, that he said he had never played live before.

Highlights? Well it was all one big euphoric high of a show. The chorus of Lullaby was sung as loud as any I have heard at the Barrowlands in 25-years of shows there (showing my age). Sometimes is a real favourite of mine, the looped guitar riff, beat and run of memories flows superbly.

Fickle McSelfish was a personal highlight for me though. I love the way Gerry sings the chorus with one line answering or expanding the line before it. And I love the line then you pulled on my hair and bit on my lip 'til it bled, f**k the notion of living without you I'd rather be dead

There is a moment in new song Canter where Cinnamon declares here comes the rain and it is euphoric, the place goes mental. And that's after a delightful pause and kiss off in the chorus. Another new song, I think its is called Darker Days, sounds really promising, I look forward to hearing it recorded.

Belter was sensational, it's a song that I've now heard buskers in Buchanan Street playing. It touches people. Cinnamon wears his heart and soul on his sleeve and remains true to his roots and beliefs. That comes across on stage and on record. Cinnamon’s album has been out for a little over a year and for me, and from the reaction last night, it has grown stronger in that time. It’s only 9-songs long yet it goes deep; there are memories, observations, there is humour, social commentary, love, hurt and dreams. He packs a lot in.

Cinnamon was always quick to thank the crowd and a couple of times he raised his glass to declare them his band. We were all certainly backing singers last night.

The encore was superb. Keysies is a real favourite of mine, Gerry really paints a picture with his lyrics and his voice is rich and soulful. A cover of Fairytale In New York was festive and euphoric before the place went crazy for his cover version of Discoland (which will be my next cover version of the month feature).

What better way to end a night at the Barras than with Cinnamon's love letter to the city, Diamonds In  The Mud. Gerry talks of places, of haunts and characteristics, his humour shines through, as does his clear love for the city.

Gerry declared that he just wants to play shows and release music. I'm not the only one looking forward to his next release. I'm pretty sure that there will be something in 2019.

Cinnamon ends the year by playing Edinburgh's Hogmanay party and there are lots of others shows already booked in Europe and across the UK. Look out for festival announcements coming - there are bound to be a few.

And Nothing Hurt

I like to sit around and dream you up a perfect miracle

Part the clouds and have the sun proudly shining on you

Take the stars and line them up to spell, darling I love you

And little by little, watch it all come true

The broken, world and life weary, dreamy, psychedelic lullaby voice of Jason Pierce, AKA J Spaceman, ushers And Nothing Hurt, the new Spiritualized album in. And we're off to get lost. In classic Spaceman form, opener A Perfect Miracle builds with multiple vocal layers, strings and horns. It's a beautiful and soulful love song, classically dreamy and with Spaceman lost in love.

every time I close my eyes, I'm just dreaming of you

I'm Your Man was the single to launch the album and it built up expectations. Thankfully they have been exceeded. Pierce plays up to his image and lays his heart on the line, his guitar soars over horns.

I could be faithful honest and true, holding my heart for you

Dependable all down the line, devoted all the time

But if you want wasted, loaded, permanently folded, doing the best he can

I'm your man, I'm your man

Pierce's fragile voice can seem shattered at times, full of joy and wonder at others. Here It Comes (The Road) is the latter, it's full of love and the simplicity of driving with the radio on, eventually leading to his house and the brilliant lyric;

And you can see my house from here

And the way my heart is beating

You'll hear the sound

It'll wake the sleeping

Pierce conjures such emotion through his lyrics, voice and music. Let's Dance is a gorgeous ballad that tips a nod to Big Star in the lyrics. It builds beautifully, the music sounds like it could be from the Beach Boys Pet Sounds sessions. Pierce allows plenty of space and time for the music to play and flow at the end. 

On The Sunshine is more of a psychedelic rocker but it's the fragile, tender ballads that are capable of building, soaring and swooping, that dominate and stand out on And Nothing Hurt.  One of them is Damaged and after a few songs where Pierce is in love, this is one where he's had his heart broken. No-one can write a song about losing in love quite like Pierce, Broken Heart from the seminal Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space album is the closest I have heard to the sound of a broken heart on record.

Having talked up the ballads, The Morning After is brilliant psych garage rock that sounds like The Velvet Underground jamming with Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. The psych jam adds in Miles Davis and the MC5.

We dive back into the serene calm of The Prize and Pierce is contemplating leaving (dying? - see below re his illnesses) and debating if love is the prize from life. It's lush, it's dreamy, it's hypnotic

Some reports indicate that And Nothing Hurt may be the final Spiritualized album. If it is, then Sail On Through is a fitting finale. Pierce has been through a tough time in the 6-years since the last Spiritualized album, suffering from double pneumonia and also from liver disease.

Pierce is at his dreamy psychedelic lullaby best as he creates a rich sonic wonderland to get lost in.

If I could hold it down

I would sail on through for you

If I weren't loaded down

I would sail on through for you

And Nothing Hurt is a rich, deep, soulful and lush album with lots to discover and plenty of scope to get lost in. Expect it to feature high in my end of year list of favourite albums from 2018.

Spiritualized are playing live shows, with only one UK gig (London) confirmed at present. They have shows in America and on the continent. Fingers crossed J Spaceman comes to Glasgow - potentially for the last time.

Erratic Cinematic by Gerry Cinnamon

One of the most exciting things to happen in the DIY Scottish music scene - in fact the Scottish music scene as a whole - over the last few years has been the development of Glasgow's Gerry Cinnamon.

Gerry is someone I have known of for a while through his previous band The Cinnamons. He always had a little bit of something about him - a twinkle in his eye, charisma, a presence and the ability to make things happen.

I've largely followed Gerry's remarkable journey online; homemade acoustic protest songs that went viral, open mic nights, Cinnamon-mania at venues from Kilmarnock to Dunfermline and everywhere in between and north and south and epic shows at T in the Park and the new TRNSMT festival. His TRNSMT show was so captivating that I watched it online 3-nights running.

Gerry Cinnamon mania at TRNSMT in summer 2017

Gerry writes and sings from the heart, he found his voice years ago and now tens of thousands of others have discovered and fallen for it.

Cinnamon tells stories, he speaks the truth, he talks of dreams, regrets, childhood memories, he questions the path his friends have taken and the world at large. And he does this in a warm, engaging, melodic and soulful manner.

It is safe to say that his album has been eagerly awaited. That its only 9-songs long was a slight surprise, but after only a couple of listens you realise that this is part of its strength. Singles Kampfire Vampire and Fickle McSelfish (both with well over 100,000 plays on Spotify) are available to whoever wants them - was there a need to put them on the album?

Sometimes sees Gerry looping guitar riffs over a drum machine beat and singing his heart out about his life and feelings.

Sometime, just sometimes

Well maybe more than some of the time

I'm on a false ego trip

Insecurity is rife, I'm not the ideal person to be lecturing on life

But if you wanna know, some things I've learned about myself

And then he goes on to tell you about the way the story goes and the way the water flows; from drinking in the park, to the cocaine scene, to popping pills.... the lyrics mentions about the water flowing, well the song flows - superbly.

Lullaby starts with some commentary recorded off the TV/radio about everyone being out of work and the state of the world. Gerry then riffs and loops his trusted acoustic over another drum machine beat. It's a beauty with Cinnamon singing for someone to sing him to sleep, sing him a love song and a lullaby of days gone by.

Cinnamon's sense of self awareness is evident throughout the album, as is his sense of (self depreciating) humour.

What Have You Done is brilliantly written with a touch of harmonica giving it extra feeling as Cinnamon asks questions and demands answers. Belter is introduced with a touch of Cinnamon-mania in the background. It's heartfelt, moving and funny all at the same time.

I think I love he, she gets underneath my skin

But I've stung a few times so i don't let no-one in

No' even belter

She is a belter

Sirens usher in Fortune Favours The Bold before a beautiful guitar riff kicks in and Cinnamon is in fine voice and the song is rich in melody.

The title track has a nod to Scarface from the off and adds on to the Wizard of Oz later on. There is another nice picked guitar riff and Gerry singing his heart out, seemingly lost in the music.

Keysies is my favourite song on the album, its a stunner. Only 90 seconds long it is pure Gerry Cinnamon at his very best. His vocal is rich and soulful as he reminisces about childhood memories running with the wind, the rain, what he was wearing, late home from school, playing soldiers in the park until dark.... It's just Gerry and his acoustic, no loops or extra tracks...and it is beautiful.

Diamonds in the Mud is another autobiographical story with confessions, observations (very funny at times) and philosophical gems. It is Cinnamons love letter to his home town, his favourite places and the Glaswegian people and banter.

The album closes with War TV and its like a modern day Scottish folk song, a Dylan-esque protest song - telling it like it is.

They're all quick to make war

But they won't send their sons

Shout the odds like a gangster

But they won't hold a gun

I'm no' that religious

But if God's got a plan

Then I don't think it's bombing in a far away land

Erratic Cinematic captures a moment for Cinnamon. The question what next? is already on many peoples lips. Gerry's Barrowland Ballroom in December sold out in a few hours, he certainly has more songs up his sleeves and the album highlights just what a talent he is with a pen and his voice.

With no radio play, no booking agent, no record label.....there is no problem for Gerry Cinnamon who is doing his thing in his way and people are loving it. It is a match made in heaven.

The album is available on Spotify, iTunes and on CD via Love Music next to Queen Street. Vinyl should be available in the near future.