On a suspiciously sunny Glasgow day (words that very rarely find themselves in the same sentence), a huge crowd queued and partied prior to doors opening at the Hydro. Maybe the headliners had brought the Aussie weather with them! At bang on 6:30 a huge cheer erupted – and that was only for the doors opening. This was only a small idea of the level of excitement for tonight’s show.
Once everyone was in and settled, the show was opened by Australian solo artist Xavier Mayne. Mayne came out to a decently full venue and a great welcome from the crowd. It was clear he had a large group of fans in the audience eager for his set.
Rather than arriving with a full live band, Mayne took to the stage alone, performing live vocals over well produced backing tracks. It was a bold choice that placed the full spotlight on him. With no on-stage musicians to share the focus, Mayne did a good job keeping the audience engaged showing great stage presence.
Mayne was accompanied by interesting visuals across the back of the stage overlaid onto live footage of his performance keeping the full attention of the venue. He had the crowd interacting well with him. People’s hands were up and they were singing along and jumping about having what looked like an absolute blast.
While Mayne’s performance was fantastic I feel his vocals were drowned out at times by the backing track making it hard to make out what he was singing, which was a real shame as his lyrics seemed to be really strong.
He took the time to chat to the crowd and express his gratitude to be touring with Chase Atlantic and spoke of their long term friendship. He finished his kind words about lead singer Mitchel Cave by having Cave come to the stage to perform with him. The crowd went mental and seemed to love their t performance.
I didn’t know any of Mayne’s works before the night but he is definitely someone I’ll keep my eye out for in the future.
It’s been two years since Chase Atlantic last played Glasgow—back then, it was a tight, sweaty set at King Tut’s with around 200 people. Fast forward to tonight, and it’s clear, from how full the hydro is, that has changed. To make that transition, skipping all the mid-size venues, in two years is nothing short of incredible.
From the band’s first steps on stage, the room was buzzing. The crowd erupted as the band launched into their opener “DIE FOR ME”. Being backed on stage with lights and fire they made an amazing start to their set. They then hit us with “Slow Down” for their second song. One of the songs I know and love from them. With cool, cinematic visuals of a car rolling through neon-lit, cyberpunk style streets, the atmosphere became electric.
From there, the energy only grew. Fans jumped in time, hands raised, fully immersed in the music. There was a huge amount of audience participation, waving, singing, screaming. When playing “WHAT YOU CALL THAT” and the lyrics “Cocaine stains on my Nikes” hit, the crowd lost it, screaming the lyric like their life depended on it. Just to top the song off, the band introduced a live saxophone performance into the mix.
The next song, “Disconnected”, started with a video intro. While it was an interesting visual it was clearly made with AI which was disappointing to say the least. It cheapens the impact greatly for me. The visuals throughout of the band playing the song had flickering signs reading “I feel disconnected”, giving a surreal feel.
The band then went onto play “Into it” which was a crowd favourite. It was also one of the first songs that introduced me to Chase Atlantic so it was nice being able to hear it live. People were singing along and dancing the whole way through, clearly just as buzzed as I was to be hearing this one. As with many bands, the addition of the live environment takes any song they’ve recorded and makes it so much better.
“Okay” was the next song they played which is an absolute banger. I was up on my feet along with everyone else singing along with my hands up. The atmosphere during this song was intense.
Lead singer Mitchel Cave took a moment mid-set for a small heart-to-heart, reminding us there’s beauty in death, in connection and in presence. After which he jumped into the crowd for the next song. It was after this they played the showstopper I think that everyone had been waiting for, “church”, and people went nuts. There were people on the shoulders of others, screaming and shouting the lyrics. The instrumentals could be felt in your chest. It was amazing.
Chase Atlantic then tried to play a bit of a song that the crowd asked for, “meddle about”. The band didn’t even know the right key but still managed to bang out a good portion of the song for the fans. We do appreciate them taking requests!
The night reached its peak when the band played their final song, “Swim.” The stage was consumed by thick waves of smoke for this almost-final performance. The crowd, completely immersed in the song, ended it with unrelenting cheers and applause. Nobody was wanting the night to end just yet.
After traditional Glasgow chants for “one more song” came from the audience, the band returned to the stage for an encore. They closed the evening proper with an all-out performance of “Friends.” It was the perfect end to a great gig.
