Ugly Kid Joe - United World Rebellion Tour - Glasgow - Garage - Monday 28 October 2013
The first I heard of these guys was their hit song ‘Everything about You’ that went on to feature in the classic Wayne’s World movie. For reasons unknown to me the song did not appear on the movie soundtrack despite being a stand-out. Other than that I do not recall hearing much more about Ugly Kid Joe in the UK until I headed back to Australia in 93 where it appeared Ugly Kid Joe had made a bit of mark with their cover ‘Cats in the Cradle’ topping the Australian singles chart. Subsequently their music was common on pub juke-boxes as well as being covered by live artists during Sunday Sessions and the like. All in all, this led to me purchasing the album America’s Least Wanted back in 93 and at the time I gave it a lot of airplay in-between Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Black Crowes and the RHCP.
Since then I upgraded America’s Least Wanted from tape to CD and it remains in my collection to this day albeit it does not come out that often. In saying that when my mate Des called me up to ask if I fancied going to see a Skid Row/Ugly Kid Joe Double Bill at the Glasgow Garage for £20 on Monday night it was a bit of a no-brainer. I had been keen to see UKJ back when they toured Australia in 93/94 but left the country before they came to town so this was my chance to eventually hear if they could cut it live or not.
From the offset, UKJ did not disappoint with a high energy performance and instantly I was somewhat surprised at just how good singer Whitfield Crane’s voice sounded live. OK so it did not know all the songs word for word but I did recognise a few from the early part of the set including…Neighbor, Panhandling Prince and So Damn Cool.
Despite some sound problems the atmosphere in the Garage was outstanding and at times I needed to remind myself this was a Monday night. The bar was chocka and there were definitely going to be a number of people with sore heads in the morning from either the bevvy in-take or the head-banging that was going on.
Whitfield had the crowd eating out of his palm as he engaged the crowd in a mass sing-along of Cats in the Cradle before cranking it up again with a few other numbers including Goddamn Devil and Everything About You. Ugly Kid Joe are certainly a band that appear to enjoy what they do and have fun doing it and the finale was a cover of Motorhead’s Ace of Spades. I have to admit hearing Ace of Spades and being a huge Stereophonics fan I was kinda hoping for a wee interlude of Bartender and the Thief Kelly Jones style but that was not to be.
Ugly Kid Joe then left the stage to much applause and the chat between my mate Des and myself revolved around how good Ugly Kid Joe had sounded and whether or not Skid Row would be able to match it….
More information on Ugly Kid Joe can be found at:
http://www.uglykidjoe.net/
Alternatively, a decent fan site can be found at:
http://www.uglykidjoe.info/
The first I heard of these guys was their hit song ‘Everything about You’ that went on to feature in the classic Wayne’s World movie. For reasons unknown to me the song did not appear on the movie soundtrack despite being a stand-out. Other than that I do not recall hearing much more about Ugly Kid Joe in the UK until I headed back to Australia in 93 where it appeared Ugly Kid Joe had made a bit of mark with their cover ‘Cats in the Cradle’ topping the Australian singles chart. Subsequently their music was common on pub juke-boxes as well as being covered by live artists during Sunday Sessions and the like. All in all, this led to me purchasing the album America’s Least Wanted back in 93 and at the time I gave it a lot of airplay in-between Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Black Crowes and the RHCP.
Since then I upgraded America’s Least Wanted from tape to CD and it remains in my collection to this day albeit it does not come out that often. In saying that when my mate Des called me up to ask if I fancied going to see a Skid Row/Ugly Kid Joe Double Bill at the Glasgow Garage for £20 on Monday night it was a bit of a no-brainer. I had been keen to see UKJ back when they toured Australia in 93/94 but left the country before they came to town so this was my chance to eventually hear if they could cut it live or not.
From the offset, UKJ did not disappoint with a high energy performance and instantly I was somewhat surprised at just how good singer Whitfield Crane’s voice sounded live. OK so it did not know all the songs word for word but I did recognise a few from the early part of the set including…Neighbor, Panhandling Prince and So Damn Cool.
Despite some sound problems the atmosphere in the Garage was outstanding and at times I needed to remind myself this was a Monday night. The bar was chocka and there were definitely going to be a number of people with sore heads in the morning from either the bevvy in-take or the head-banging that was going on.
Whitfield had the crowd eating out of his palm as he engaged the crowd in a mass sing-along of Cats in the Cradle before cranking it up again with a few other numbers including Goddamn Devil and Everything About You. Ugly Kid Joe are certainly a band that appear to enjoy what they do and have fun doing it and the finale was a cover of Motorhead’s Ace of Spades. I have to admit hearing Ace of Spades and being a huge Stereophonics fan I was kinda hoping for a wee interlude of Bartender and the Thief Kelly Jones style but that was not to be.
Ugly Kid Joe then left the stage to much applause and the chat between my mate Des and myself revolved around how good Ugly Kid Joe had sounded and whether or not Skid Row would be able to match it….
More information on Ugly Kid Joe can be found at:
http://www.uglykidjoe.net/
Alternatively, a decent fan site can be found at:
http://www.uglykidjoe.info/