A cold night in Glasgow set the scene for the third show of four in Glasgow for Ocean Colour Scene, after the previous nights and amazing reviews, this was going to be another outstanding night of music from the Birmingham favorites.
The night opened with local singer songwriter John Rush who really started the ball rolling with an excellent set of songs including stand out song “the older they are the sweeter the wine.” The crowd sang along to song after song. Finishing his set, another sing along with excellent crowd interaction to “Help Me”, an excellent song and a true crowd pleaser at his live gigs. He really got the audience going and was the perfect warm up support act for Ocean Colour Scene.
The third sold out night at the famous venue on this tour is about to get underway, it was now time to welcome Simon, Oscar and Steve to a hero’s welcome, on their return to Glasgow’s iconic venue. As the band took to the stage you could see the huge smile on their faces as they went in to the open chords of “The Riverboat Song”, the Glasgow audience in full voice, immediately began singing word for word from the front of the venue to the back, the atmosphere was electric, u could feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The band followed this with the excellent “You Got It Bad” from the Moseley Shoals album of 1996. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands enjoying every second, it was evident some of the audience had been to the previous night’s gig by the chatter of the previous show, it’s clear to see why they keep coming back with the outstanding performance from OCS.
Simon vocals are on top form hitting every note perfectly as the day they were recorded. The band performed songs from all areas of the band’s history including “Better Day”, “So Low”, “It’s My Shadow” and “Get Blown Away”. The delighted fans were on cloud nine with the amazing set list they were being treated to, taking them back to memories from past shows in the famous venue. Steve Cradock delighting the fans with storming guitar solos. This was definitely a show that will leave a lasting memory with the fans, as a new covid 19 variant was just around the corner it was great to feel alive and enjoy what was happening in the present, not what is around the corner. I think this is what the band were feeling, every show was a bonus as this new variant swiftly began to impact the UK, once more Covid 19 was set to influence the way live music is enjoyed .
The band finished of this part of the set “100 Mile High City” from Marchin Already album from 1997 before leaving the stage for a short break. Simon returned to the stage with acoustic guitar in hand to perform “Robin Hood” before being joined by the rest of the band to close the set with the excellent “Beside Yourself”, “It’s a Beautiful Thing”. The emotion on stage was electric, reverberating across the entire venue. The final song of the night the “Day We Caught the Train” took the roof off the venue. This was the third night of show’s for the band at the famous Barrowland with one left to play. Ocean Colour Scene delivered a show full of emotion and passion, a night filled with music to take your mind off what was happening in the world today and back to enjoying the live arena. Get out there and support live music and take in the sounds of Ocean Colour Scene.
Review by Karen Edmond Photographs by James Edmond
