Music

Bad Company, SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Jonathan Geddes

Four stars

TWIRLING the microphone stand is one of those lost arts in rock n’ roll music. You wouldn’t see your Two Door Cinema Club’s or Foals getting going with such a flourish, and yet barely had Paul Rodgers bounded onstage, resplendent in a glittery waistcoat that suggested he was keen to be seen by motorists on a dark road, than off he went.

Three quarters of the original band still remain, with guitarist Mick Ralphs back in the fold, and, flashy entrance aside, there was something resolutely old fashioned and straightforward about the set, from the way the band barrelled through numbers to the no frills stage set-up, sparse aside from some video screens and the odd blast of smoke.

That let the band control things through the muscular, rough-hewn nature of the material and Rodgers voice, which is still in superb fettle and mostly undiminished by time. Credit too to their soundman, who kept things powerful but not overwhelming all night, from a brawny opening pairing of Live For The Music and Gone, Gone, Gone to a bluesy take on Ready For Love and the expected anthems of Can’t Get Enough and an emotive Shooting Star, complete with images of fallen icons behind the band. A sole new number, Troubleshooter, was efficient if not dynamic.

Rodgers conducted matters with a frontman’s swagger that avoided cockiness and instead embraced a celebratory, "we’re in this together" air, albeit one that suffered from the slightly impersonal vibe that usually affects arena gigs. That, and the set’s relative brevity at under 90 minutes, were the evening’s only real setbacks, issues that were overcome when the encore delivered a tremendous, atmospheric rendition of the group’s eponymous song.