The Handsome Family and Otis Gibbs live at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow

I'm pretty lucky. I like to think that I'm unlucky but in reality my life is filled with good luck. I have a good job, I own a nice flat and I live in a cool city. Life is fair to me. On top of all of that, I won tickets from The List magazine to see the Handsome Family and Otis Gibbs live.

I had some vague awareness of the Handsome Family before the show. I managed to hear some tracks on Spotify a few hours early. They were good. I was reminded of Nick Cave and Johnny Cash.

Otis Gibbs was more of a revelation. One man, one guitar, one beard. He had a strong stage presence and stronger songs. His between song banter was quality. He trades in acoustic protest songs with a punky edge. He was worth the price of the (free) ticket alone.

http://otisgibbs.com/

The Handsome Family have a more gothic quality. Their songs all sound like the aural equivalent of Sandman comics or missing tracks the Nick Caves' Murder Ballads album. The husband and wife team at the core of the band have a good grasp of slightly spooky humour. I enjoyed the show but I think I would have got more out of it if I had listened to a few of their albums beforehand. I'll probably check them out in the future.

http://www.handsomefamily.com/

So, thanks again to the List magazine. I'm a lucky guy.

http://www.list.co.uk/