Udderbelly, George Square

5th – 23rd Aug 2015,

10.55pm

Gideon and Hubcap, life-long friends and self proclaimed “modern-day troubadours” lead their lives from one living-room to the next, literally – travelling between the homes of strangers, moving across states, and now continents, on the strength of recommendation and suggestion, on waves of goodwill, to play to gatherings of friends, and friends of friends, to anyone willing to open up their home for the night.  This is all wonderfully bohemian, and wildly romantic of course, but would the intimacy at the heart of it all translate amid the gray plastic seating and MDF walls of the Udderbelly’s “wee coo?”

Well, yes. Absolutely, yes. The atmosphere, by the time the hour was up, buzzed with camaraderie, the opportunities for audience interaction are charming, non-invasive, genuinely magical. No one is going to be picked on here, everyone is going to leave feeling -at least a bit- better about the world and their place in it.

The Gideon and Hubcap show is a soul-warming slice of what the pair call “stove-top folk.” They’re supremely talented, both instrumentally, lyrically, musically, vocally and were these songs just beautifully sung and played it would be enough, the harmonies are rich and drip like honey, they move smoothly from banjo to squeezebox to musical saw, keyboard, and more, each piece is engaging in an entirely different way. But there is so much more happening here. There are many laughs, of many kinds, visual puns, slapstick, observational humour, the sweet shock of genuine vulnerability, a song about BDSM so sweet you’d happily have them sing it to your granny. There is much that is self deferential, and a mirror is held gently but firmly to the audience too, with much needed pokes at first world “problems” we will all flinch to recognise having complained of. There is life-affirming stuff here, stuff that reminds you of the beauty of friendship, the pain and brilliance of love and perhaps most of the importance of kindness, all in a way that is a lot more genuinely moving and less cliché than that all sounds. If you want to make someone fall in love, take them to this show… it’ll happen. It might not be you they fall in love with though. FIVE STARS- would give it more if I could. Cannot recommend this show enough.

Reviewer : Katie Craig