McAlmont & Butler, ABC, Glasgow, review: Duo's short mid-90s flush of success endures

Their audience is sizable, the cheers which greet their finale of biggest hit ‘Yes’ full-voiced and excited

David McAlmont (L) and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler

The latest reunion of singer David McAlmont and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler has arrived in fits and starts, a couple of low-key London dates last year and a reissue last month of their 1995 debut record The Sound of… McAlmont & Butler preceding this short UK tour.

Barring a brief and only modestly successful second record in 2002, it’s that short mid-90s flush of success which endures. Their audience is sizable, the cheers which greet their finale of biggest hit ‘Yes’ – McAlmont having already twice teased its non-inclusion by announcing the final song – full-voiced and excited.

The pair have reissued their 1995 debut The Sound of… McAlmont & Butler

Backed by a string quintet and support group The Magic Numbers, the pair’s set perhaps leans rather heavily on wistful, lovelorn balladry, but the casually white-suited McAlmont’s voice is a mighty thing.

His lovely, lingering notes are enduringly worth listening to, whether carrying off a sense of musical grandeur over Butler’s swirling electric country on ‘Tonight’ or delivering a shimmering take on ‘You’ll Lose a Good Thing’. In fact, the most musically abrasive song of the evening – ‘The Debitor’, careening on Butler’s prickly glam guitar surge – doesn’t make best use of McAlmont’s voice, perhaps explaining why the light pop of Fat Larry’s Band’s ‘Zoom’ and the more measured balladeering reserve of tracks like ‘You Do’ set the tone.