The Stranglers
Kelvingrove Bandstand
*****
If I learnt something new about The Stranglers, it is not to ask about Hugh Cornwell.
He was the voice of much of the legendary punk combo's earliest output from Peaches to Golden Brown and left the band in 1990.
Chatting to the original bass thing from the band Jean Jacques Brunel, it is made abundantly clear in strident tones that he has not shared a stage with his former partner in crime and has no intentions to do so, despite the money that is apparently around for such a reunion.
READ MORE: Music: The Stranglers
And you can see why, as the band have done very well, thank you very much, with Baz Warne on vocals, who by his singing mannerisms, you would not have registered was not the original vocalist with this most underrated of punk bands.
Underrated, because as their setlist in Glasgow shows, they have elements of that gritty loud guitar punk ethic but were never defined by that, and diversified into a more complex beast.
They have come a long way since the notorious 'stage invasion' City Halls gig, 42 years ago that resulted in a Glasgow punk ban and there was no chance of a repeat here, with security guards ensuring nobody was allowed to even stand on the benches.
Enigmatic keyboard wizard Dave Greenfield, now 70, with his cutting organ arpeggios is the unsung hero of a band who in their heyday sound like The Doors force-fed the Pistols.
READ MORE: Return of The Stranglers: 'We don't get arrested every night and I'm not getting laid'
Here he cuts a quiet but omnipresent force as the band power their way through some of the best of their 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums, from early favourites such as Toiler on the Sea, Grip and, of course, Peaches, to tonight's crowd favourites, Skin Deep, a rapturous Always the Sun and the ecstatic final hurrah No More Heroes.
Before the encore, Warne, in his broad Sunderland brogue declares: "Glasgow, as usual, you are always the f...ing best."
As were they.
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