The Xcerts Album Launch at Tunnels 2 Aberdeen

First on tonight was local solo artist Kristoffer Morgan, performing his own special brand of beautiful acoustic folk songs. He stormed through a set of American influenced folk-rock, each of which was well received by the crowd. Having obviously known The Xcerts personally for years, Kristoffer shared a fond memory of being at an early Xcerts gig and a certain song they played before his last song, to which he added it was best not to say which song.
As the Tunnels 2 began to fill up in time for the Xcerts, Right Hand Left took to the stage. Again they were well received by their local crowd and really got the crowd ready for The Xcerts, playing more upbeat songs in contrast to Kristoffer’s mellow, chilled-out folk.
With only a couple of minutes left before the Xcerts took to the stage, the last influx of people arrived to see their local heroes. Just before the Xcerts burst into album opener “Home versus Home”, lead singer/guitarist Murray Macleod let out the words “It’s so good to be home again”. As he spoke, you could tell that he really meant it, and that tonight this band wanted nothing more than to play to the people they love, their fans, in their home city, on the launch of their debut album.
Never really taking the foot of the gas during the performance you could tell that the Xcerts were on top form all night.
Before launching into “Lost But Not Alone”, Murray told the crowd “Our album’s better than Chinese Democracy… and I haven’t even listened to it”. A band comparing their debut album to one of the world’s biggest acts is always going to be a tall claim. However after one listen to The Xcerts debut album, “In The Cold We Smile”, you realise that Murray is most certainly right.
The Xcerts powered through more songs from their debut album, including “Just Go Home” and “Do You Feel Safe?” which went down particularly well with the crowd. The only slight blip of the night was in “Aberdeen 1987” when Murray briefly forgot his words. The crowd, and Jordan, however quickly put him back on track.
The Xcerts really were on form at The Tunnels 2. You could really see during every crowd sing-along, of which there were many, the enormous amount of satisfaction on Murray, Jordan and Tom’s faces at the reception of their new album. If the album, and the band’s, recent success is anything to go by, then you can certainly tell that this will be the first of many album launches for The Xcerts.

The Xcerts played:
Home versus Home
Night school
Cool Ethan
Lost But Not Alone
Aberdeen 1987
Just Go Home
Crisis In The Slow Lane
Do You Feel Safe?
I See Thing Differently

RT