Alex Chilton - Mono, Glasgow, 10/6/2010

  by Tony Gaughan

published: 25 / 6 / 2010

intro

The Mono in Glasgow recently played host to a tribute night for the late Alex Chilton. Tony Gaughan sees performances from local acts and fans such as the Teenage Fanclub, the BMX Bandits, V-Twin who reformed especially for the occasion and Stevie Jackson from Belle and Sebastian

The untimely passing of Alex Chilton in March was particularly felt in Glasgow where the Big Star frontman had an army of admirers and musician friends. This extravaganza was set up by one of his closest friends V-Twin's Jason McPhail, who reformed his band especially for this event. Local act Milk opened proceedings and was followed by an attempt from Teenage Fanclub's Francis McDonald's with an acoustic guitar to deliver what turned out to be unrecognisable tracks. To be fair, he claimed drums were his first instrument and that guitar and vocals were neither his second or third instrument. He wasn't kidding! Jason McPhail was next up with his reformed V-Twin and they powered through ‘Hey Little Child’ from Chilton's solo album ‘Like Flies on Sherbet’,‘In the Street’ and a fantastic take on Ernie K Doe's ‘Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta’. Hot Chip also supplied an audio visual treat of three tracks including ’The Letter’, before the combined force of the BMX Bandits and the Pearlfishers led by Duglas T Stewart and David Scott played a set which included Chilton’s solo track, ‘What's your Sign, Girl?’ and ‘The Ballad of El Goodo’. They were joined by Alex's widow Laura Chilton for the Shangri-Las’ ‘Past, Present and Future’, which had been sung by Alex prior to his passing. Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson broke off from recording in America to deliver ‘Memphis In June’ and Chilton's own ‘Alligator Man’. Teenage Fanclub closed proceedings with a full band set including ‘Free Again’ and ‘O Dana’ before being joined onstage by McPhail for an incredible version of the Olympic's ‘Mine Exclusively’. The closing encore of Big Star's ‘September Gurls’ was a fitting finale and great reminder of a special talent who will be sorely missed.