Handsome, charismatic, supremely talented. Where did it all go wrong for Jake Shears? With the beloved Scissor Sisters on a hiatus since 2012 following the release of their fourth album, Magic Hour, fears rose that audiences would never again get the chance to get jacked up on some cheap champagne to their infectious and quirky brand of pop. However, this month’s release of a self-titled solo album from Shears has brought all those good times back, effortlessly updating the classic Sisters sound into something new but equally, and importantly, fun.

The heat inside Concorde 2 is reaching volcanic temperatures when Shears’ band emerge onto the stage, with the good-time vibes rolling all around the room and spilling deep into the bar where the crowd finally stops – it’s pretty obvious that this show sold out and then some.

The noise reaches ear-splitting intensity when the man himself sprints onto stage, looking resplendent in a top hat, bow-tie and tuxedo combination to ‘Good Friends’. A more fitting opening song you couldn’t find, the cheers and screams from the crowd acting as the surest sign of Shears being amongst friends. “It has been SO long” he smiles at the end, before breaking into ‘I Can’t Decide’, one of only a handful of Scissor-era tracks to be presented tonight.

This could easily have become one of those shows where the crowd hunger only for the old ones. Yet instead, Shears sticks largely to his solo material and not a soul would have left Concorde 2 unhappy at that. Though they may be lacking (for now) the familiarity of his previous hits, they more than make up for it in catchiness and in a sheer, breezy fun factor.

‘Big Bushy Mustache’ is introduced with a wink and an admission that, “Something has been growing on my face. Not herpes though, something else.” The country-tinged ‘Sad Song Backwards’ may carry a haunting lyrical content, but the fans lap it up. There’s even time for a new new song in the shape of ‘Fit Ain’t One Thing’, before the ultimate party anthems are broken out in the shapes and sounds of ‘Laura’ and ‘Take Your Mama’. Both are songs that will live forever, barely a soul even trying to resist dancing.

By now reduced to top hat and leotard, Shears stays in his role as ringleader for the duration of the show. Though there is perhaps a little drifting towards the end, it is brought firmly back by an amazing, life-affirming rendition of ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ before he appears to don his Aunt Betty’s Sunday-best outfit for an encore of ‘Creep City’ and ‘Mississippi Delta’ that sends everyone into raptures. There is little doubt that this was ‘An Event’, a show that Concorde 2 could probably have sold out twice over, and definitely one to be discussed and smiled at the following day. Welcome back Jake.

Jamie MacMillan

Website – jakeshears.com
Facebook – facebook.com/JakeShearsOfficial
Twitter – twitter.com/Jakeshears