Tuesday 21/11/06 The Feeling @ Carling Academy, Glasgow

If there’s one accusation that can never be levelled at The Feeling, it is desiring to be cool or trendy.

The PA is blaring out Supertramp. There are elaborate raised platforms for the drums and keyboards. Later, as the band’s performance goes on there’s a glittering light show. That’s before even mentioning the Feeling’s harmony driven soft rock, a gentle mix of ELO and Supertramp, hardly particularly trendy artists. So they should be applauded for that, if nothing else.

As for the music itself, well…

The problem is there’s a reason their obvious inspirations are not considered fashionable. The music is painfully dull. Tired, dreary and monotonous for the most part, sadly the Feeling don’t provide the formula with a twist. Admittedly, the audience (a rather bizarre all ages mix that ranges from young kids to grannies, giving it the feel of a pantomime) are in raptures as soon the opening  ‘I Want You Now’ lumbers in, followed by the twee pop of ‘Fill My Little World Up’.

Yet it’s hard to see why the band are getting such adulation when the material itself is so prosaic. Vocalist Dan Gillespie tries hard to overcome the shortcomings by racing around the stage at every opportunity while the rest of the band adopt clichéd Rock Star Pose after clichéd Rock Star Pose but this only draws more attention to the mundane songs.

The worst offenders are their attempts at ballads, namely ‘Rose’ and ‘Sewn’. The latter is received with hysteria from the crowd as its slow deliberate build up comes in. Yet the track unfolds into a drone right down to an attempt at rocking out at the end.

In fairness, the Feeling do have some catchy tracks. ‘Never Be Lonely’ is one example, with a particularly inspired and clever chorus while the foot stomping ‘Love It When You Call’ is at least invested with some zest and urgency, speeding by and raising the tempo considerably. There’s also a bizarrely entertaining cover of the Buggles ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’. It shouldn’t work but it actually has some real bounce to it, with Paul Stewart’s drumming deserving credit.

However it isn’t enough. For all the crowd loves them they remain utterly middle of the road. You suspect they’ll like that but it doesn’t make them any better.