It’s always nice to step outside of you usual comfort zone, so when we were offered a chance to go and see Dayglow I didn’t hesitate. Arguably a bit “poppy” for our site, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year seeing bands that some people argue that we “shouldn’t” be covering. Well, they’re wrong. A good show is a good show, and talent is talent. If it’s out there, we’ll potentially cover it. So much so that we’ve got a category devoted to acts that are outside of the typical “rock / metal” genres. Expect to see a few more of these as the months go on.
The opener this evening was very much not someone we’d have covered last year, and this is a shame as she’s a very talented individual (plus drummer) embarking on her first tour. DellaXOZ plays bluesy numbers on the guitar accompanied by self-referential vocal musings and rants – a look online tells me this is “soundtrap”. And it’s very different! She had a minor viral hit with “Unhinged” which she rounded off her set with, but the other songs she played weren’t bad at all.
I’d like to point out her guitar technique which is wonderfully varied, with finger-picking and taps mixed in with the more usual methods. She seemed very much swept up with her own tunes which fed out to the audience who really got into the music as a result.
Obviously a little shy and reserved, she nonetheless came over very well on stage and her confidence will build. This didn’t affect her performance at all and, in fact, I think it endeared her to the crowd. At only 20 years of age, she was around the same age as most of the audience and I think they appreciated the guts it takes at their age to get on stage and perform. Typically of the Glasgow audience I’ve seen at recent, heavier gigs she was welcomed and given a great reception with cheers and applause after each song from a crowd who arguably hadn’t heard of her prior to her being added to the bill.
When she asked for torchlights to be waved during one song (“I’ve never asked anyone to do this before!”) she wasn’t let down and the venue was filled with phone lights going on. The large crowd round the merch stall at the end of the show also showed that she’d made a good impression with so many people waiting to talk to her that we didn’t get the chance! One to watch out for, she has a ton of potential.
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With an early curfew, headliners Dayglow were on stage around 8:30 to play a decent length set of light pop/rock material. Fronted by Sloan Struble they were, again, about on par age-wise with the audience. Sloan apparently released his first album from his bedroom at age 17. He’s now “getting old”(!) at 25 and out touring the world to 1000-ish people at a time. While not a sold out show, there was still a decent number of people there.
The music is definitely more laid back than the material we usually cover, trippy even, but Sloan and the band played as well as any other act I’ve watched. A little more audience interaction wouldn’t go amiss, but the tunes were good and there were some obviously huge fan favourites in the set going by the reactions around me. He’s a good performer, and at times I was reminded of Marty McFly playing at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance! If he’d said “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it” at the end of one of his songs, I’d have lost it.
Being unfamiliar with pretty much all of the songs didn’t stop me enjoying myself. This is “relaxing in the summer” music, and many of the songs are relatable even to an old fart like me. Having said that, nobody in the audience had tried Waffle House before (the theme of new song “All Star Number One”), though one person behind me quite rightly shouted out “GREGGS!” when asked what the closest equivalent was in the UK. I don’t care if it’s wrong – it’s right. At risk of sounding like “one of those people” who always say the old stuff is the best, I thought that the best song of the night was one of his original ones – “Fuzzybrain” from that first album. Also “Nothing Ever Does!!!” was fun. A bit more rocky, I knew I’d be digging that one out on Spotify when I got home.
Throwing in a cover of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” (deliberately for Glasgow, given the band’s origins?) at the end of the main set was a nice touch, and a lengthy encore followed.
This is the first gig I’ve been to this year which hasn’t featured a “Here we…” chant. I suspect that if anyone swore near Sloan, he’d blush and ask to leave the room. He comes across as really quite clean-cut! To give you an idea of the atmosphere… you know those adverts you often see, or stock images, of gigs where a semi-anonymous band are playing, and there are people just having a good time in the audience? Waving, smiling, hugging their friends, swaying to the music… simply a good time for all? That’s what this show looked like.
Speaking to my daughter who came with me, I pointed out that I love seeing a concert filled with young gig-goers. Watching people half my age enjoying live music shows that something this important has a future. Some of them may well end up on stage like the people entertaining us this evening, and that’s a wonderful thing.
