Dylan John Thomas, The Royston Club & Murdo Mitchell Barrowland 8th December 2022
The big freeze had arrived but things would soon warm up in the famous Barrowland Ballroom with Dylan John Thomas performing a second sold out night at ‘The Barras’ as part of his UK tour which had been sold out everywhere he played. The tour had began at Aberdeen Unit 51 on 18th November and he went on to play shows in Dundee, Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, London and ending the tour tonight. Arrived early for Murdo Mitchell’s set and had to queue for ten minutes to gain entry alongside the very young and energetic fans. The appreciative audience turned up in their hundreds for the Glaswegian to work through his repertoire of songs including Your Skin, Lies, Ghosts, Hollow and Faded. After half an hour on stage he was given a good cheers. He is out on tour early in 2023, and I will definitely be going to see him again, great choice of support.
I had saw The Royston Club in Manchester in October during the Neighbourhood Festival in a Day at the Albert Hall, so I knew how good they were already. Their blistering setlist included some of their biggest songs: Mariana, Cold Sweats, Believe it or Not, Young and Tangled up. The young Welsh band from Wrexham are quickly gaining a large following and I am looking forward to seeing them play at Sound City in Liverpool at the end of April.
The ballroom was jam packed half an hour before the main man – Dylan John Thomas – walked on to the stage around 9.15pm. Arguably his biggest song to date, Jenna, kicked things off and sent the crowd wild with delight. There is something special about gigs in Glasgow, the crowd always seem to create an amazing energy and connection with the artists and sing every song word for word. Being from Glasgow Dylan John Thomas understands this more than most. The next song – Problems – now has over 2 Million streams on Spotify alone and he didn’t let the fans down with this one. A great cover of the Arctic Monkeys song Do I Wanna Know? followed and was much appreciated. Thomas recently released his second EP (EP2) and the first song from that EP was next, If I Didn’t Laugh, with the expected sing along. Wake Up Ma brought silence to the Ballroom for a few minutes while he worked through a song that had lots of personal meaning. Dylan openly talks about how he grew up in foster care and a lot of his songs are written about that period of his life. Anther cover version – this time ‘Someday’ from the Strokes – was performed brilliantly. Feel the Fire got the young crowd worked up again before Now and Then and this was followed by Fever and Hey, Good Lookin’, a Hank Williams cover. The set was completed by latest song What a Shame and What I need. After an intense hour on stage and 15 songs later, Dylan John Thomas left the stage to a very happy audience. This was my third time seeing him this year and hopefully I will catch him again at a festival next year. Another one to look forward to.
Reviewed by Alan Brown
