28 March 2026, The Glad Cafe
Having witnessed Callum Easter in a supporting role a couple of times previously, I was nonetheless, unable to convey his unique style to my good lady and what we could expect to hear as we wandered into The Glad Café.
There’s his dry humour that works well on a Glasgow audience. There’s his ability as a multi-instrumentalist with input that is led, more often than not, by the piano accordion which he is able to draw the strangest of sounds out of.
While the show feels like it’s being developed on the hoof, there’s a comic measure of spontaneity that belies the craftmanship that pulls the audience into each and every song.
He doesn’t easily fit into any of the established genres of music. The combination of guitar, microphones/telephones and squeeze box together with an array of electronic wizardry continues to sound unlike anything currently being played on the circuit. The interaction between what he plays, and the standup drums or bass / guitar create the sonic atmosphere that has the whole room in some form of motion, from swaying hips to nodding heads.
The music itself is tinged with a rock’n’roll style allied to a fearsome delivery. You sometimes feel if the room went dark other than a light shining on Callum Easter, some may feel obliged to leave the room for their own personal safety such is the intensity he brings to his songs.
In a previous review from a supporting role with Nadine Shah, I wrote ……
‘Simply put, there appears to be few acts around the circuit who bring such imagination to a good old squeezebox. There is some electronic wizardry going on throughput his short set. There even appears to be, at times an attitude of, ‘Well I’m up here, you’re down there, let’s see if you like this!’
As the headline act, he had more latitude to put on the show that he wanted to give. A show that underlined why he is one of the most creative purveyors of contemporary music in Scotland. The term ‘gallus’ is generally used to describe someone that is cheeky, bold or mischievous, it would be an apt term to describe, certainly the stage persona, of Callum Easter.
Fraser MacCallum
If you’ve been to a few Frets Concerts before then there is every chance you will have come across bass player, acoustic guitarist and singer Fraser MacCallum with any number of the musical projects that pop up as support or headline acts. Tonight though, he took to the stage as a solo performer. A full set of short songs, as he mentioned early on in the set. There is no disguising the musical talent and nothing seemed to faze him as he introduced the background to each song. Some were tongue in cheek, others, like a song for his deceased father had a serious story to tell.
It would be fair to say, I hope, that as a support act it bore little musical relationship to what was to follow with Callum Easter, and yet it struck the right chord for the audience on the night and that has to be a good sign.
