Blackpool 29.5.03 - review by Helen Burns

A humid early summer evening and there can be few better places to go than Blackpool by the sea. Glenn was appearing in a corner of the massive Winter gardens complex in a bar called Inferno’s. It really was just a bar, with a raised platform in one corner passing as a stage, a small wooden dance floor around that and surrounded by tables which were spread around the room. By the time the fab and super-cuddlesome Darren Poyser had finished his set there were maybe 100 people there but it seemed fewer because of the layout of the place. Me, Maggie and Rona positioned ourselves on the table directly I front of the stage of course, and on her trip around the room distributing fliers for Glennmovie Mags discovered fellow lister Paul Cole, all the way from Boston MA!

Hurrah! The orange cords reappeared resplendent tonight, together with a black Stone Pony T shirt and the usual trainers. Thankfully the long hair was still intact, but the new 6 string guitar had mysteriously been replaced by Old Faithful.

So, all started well until song #2 – TMIY – when a very voluble woman sitting at the far left of the stage decided to get up and dance. Good for her, I hear you say, except this was a cross between belly and lap dancing with a dash of David Brent thrown in. She insisted on grinding her way backwards and forwards across the little wooden dance floor in a ‘Look at me! Look at me!” sort of way which owed more to intoxicants than talent, completely blocking our view of Glenn. Not only that but her intention was to intimidate the rest of the audience into getting up to dance with her by shouting at us all – though happily everybody else had more sense. Glenn was very good at ignoring her, but we finally managed to catch his eye with wicked grins and he manfully managed to struggle to the end of the song. The lucky thing was that she was only interested in the early hits, so boredom set in when Glenn played album tracks or more recent songs, during which she buggered off to annoy other people/go for a stagger/throw up in the toilets instead.

It was hard work for Glenn to establish a rapport with the audience in a brightly lit room laid out like this one and he had to work very hard. He did one of his runabouts to Piccadilly to draw everyone in, but the real highlight was  the walkabout. Never was a walkabout so well placed and successful, I’m sure. We followed him in the balmy evening air, down the shopping precinct, singing our little hearts out to Goodbye Girl and Mussels while he stood on benches against the backdrop of the illuminated Tower. It was magical and lovely and by the time we got back to the bar everyone was eating out of his hand.

Then guess what? The lap dancer was on her feet again and shot a tranquilliser dart into the audience’s new found energy and enthusiasm. By this time it had seriously stopped being funny. We came to see Glenn, dear, not you. I hope you have a truly vicious hangover today.

But in spite of her it was a lovely gig that I really enjoyed. Highlights for me would be Hope Fell Down, Annie and This Summer (very appropriate), and of course the walkabout which left me feeling very happy and at peace with the world! Just one encore, as he was driving straight home after the gig but he seemed quite pleased with how it had gone overall.

Setlist:

Tough Love
Take me I’m Yours
This is where you aint
The Truth
Piccadilly
Baby I don’t care
Vanity Fair
Hope Fell Down
Slap and Tickle
Voodoo Child
Black coffee in bed
I won’t see you
This summer

Touching me touching you
Vicky Verky
Wine spodee odee
Cash machine
Hourglass
Goodbye Girl
Mussels
Annie
Is that love
Up the junction
Some Fantastic Place
Tempted.