GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

3rd May 2010

By Fiona Shepherd

GLEN Campbell admits getting emotional when playing with his kids, so this current tour must be a touching time for the veteran country singer/guitarist, with his daughters Debby and Ashley and son Cal forming a veritable Campbell family band round their eminent patriarch.

This was a bittersweet grouping, as it became apparent over the course of this concert that they were there to watch out for their dad as much as perform with him. Campbell has become increasingly adrift onstage, forgetting names, appearing unsure of the order of events, even letting slip during one of his charming rambles that his band had advised him not to speak too much.

But even with that edge of unpredictability, his singing and guitar-playing skills ran deep - behold his fine, limber yodel on Hank Williams's Lovesick Blues and lightning surf riff on the William Tell Overture.

On this outing, he frontloaded his set with some of his best-loved Jimmy Webb renditions, such as the warm twang of Galveston and a particularly wistful By The Time I Get To Phoenix, but overall he fielded an eclectic set, encompassing the easy-listening melodrama of I Can't Stop Loving You and lounge jazz diversion of Sinatra's Didn't We, as well as his yearning countrification of modern rock standards, such as the Foo Fighters' Times Like These and U2's All I Want Is You.

Campbell's effortlessly mellifluous voice sounds naturally weathered these days, but as heard on the immortal Wichita Lineman, is now full of the depth of character which no amount of youthful athleticism can buy. It was also a pleasure to see how much Campbell, despite the confusion, still loves playing live. At times he literally had a spring in his step.