Friday 25/04/08 Tom McRae And The Hotel Cafe Tour @ Oran Mor, Glasgow

In the attractive surroundings of Oran Mor, a converted church, Glasgow plays host to Tom McRae and The Hotel Cafe Tour. The Hotel Cafe is based in Los Angeles, starting as a small coffee shop, it quickly blossomed into a popular venue for singer/songwriters. With a similar reputation to Glasgow's own King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, The Hotel Cafe has been labelled "the place that breaks artists". Tonight provides this small crowd with what can only be described as an intimate mini-festival, in which was chaotic at times but truly allowed you to feel that you were experiencing something very special.

Tom McRae was labelled the main attraction for the evening and his loyal fans were out in force, nevertheless, the night was not about him, far from it, Tom humbly took a back seat and spent most of the evening as the compere rather than a headlining act. Fans however were not to be disappointed, because every time Tom McRae came to the stage to perform it made it all the more special. Along with Tom tonight were 5 talented singer/songwriters in the shape of Greg Laswell, Jim Bianco, Cary Brothers, Catherine Feeny and Brian Wright.

Tom opened tonight's events with 'Bloodless', taken from his Mercury Nominated debut album. Playing solo with just an acoustic guitar, singing with passion ".. tell me again/what am I feeling?/ you know me so well/so what am I feeling and how can you tell?/I’ve a feeling you don't know..". Tom’s vocal appeared to warble with some emotion as Glasgow join in with full force. Tom finishes with the comment, "This is why I love Glasgow..". Jim Bianco bounds on stage full of energy exclaiming "I ****ing Love Scotland... oops my mom is here". 'Handsome devil' shows his energetic style well, with instrumental assistance of accordions and trumpets the "bluesy" feel to the song has people dancing along as Jim sings "... go to hell you handsome devil/I know what you're thinkin'/but the joke is laughing at you, boy...". With Jim's funky dancing and witty humour Catherine Feeny has a hard act to follow, however with her feminine charm and stunning vocal range the audience are instantly captivated with her. Opening her short set with 'He's Like You, Only Better' see's her play with the full band and closes with a solo performance of 'I Come Home'.