Brooklyn singer-songwriter Ari Abdul and her God’s Watching tour came to UK for a short run of dates starting off in Manchester on 24th August before heading up the M6 to Bonnie Scotland to play not only a debut show in Glasgow but also a sold out one at The Garage 2. So who is Ari Abdul? Well like a lot of artists nowadays Ari first came into the spotlight on TikTok (Imaginary.ari) and went viral with debut release BABYDOLL in February 2022, a song that now has well over 160 millions streams. In fact she soon released a sped up version a couple of months later that has even more streams (255 million), since then she has continued to release music that has proved very popular with her growing fanbase around the world.
After getting down to the venue early for a pre-gig interview with Ari the queue almost snaked around the corner to Sauchiehall Street on this very wet Sunday night, the fans obviously weren’t put off by this as they waited patiently for the ‘meet and greet’. We re-entered The Garage shortly before tonight’s support act Betty took to the stage, the room was already packed out with young mainly female enthusiastic fans singing along to the PA music building an early atmosphere. Betty released a debut EP on 18th July titled Mind Over Matter and we would get to hear tracks from that during the half-hour set, a few fans even joining in with the vocals during Mum Says; a song described by Betty as “a tale of broken trust and surviving the trials and tribulations of life”. This is very deep for a Sunday night! Another highlight was Not Again (Sick In A Cab). 7/10
Shortly before Abdul took to the stage at 8.30pm her legion of fans warmed up for what was to come with collective chants of “here we, here we, here we fucking go!” What a welcome for this talented 23-year old New Yorker as she burst on to the stage alongside a guitarist and drummer immediately playing Taste. This is when the fun began, Ari started randomly grabbing phones from the fans down the front and videoing herself and taking photos while singing, her connection to the crowd was very special tonight, especially when you consider that this is her debut Scottish show. Abdul released an EP – CCTV – in October 2023 and would play most of the tracks from that. The stage lights were constant alongside fog on the stage helping keep the intensity high, the music is very seductive and atmospheric, to be honest it is hard to genre define Ari Abdul’s music, it can move from pop to grunge or nu-Metal in the blink of an eye. Ari comments that HELLGIRL is one of her favourite songs to play live before playing that track to the delight of the young, noisy crowd, for a Sunday night this is a special atmosphere. DFHMPU (Don’t Fucking Hang My Phone Up) is one of the best of the set, everyone joining in with the chorus. A fan even asks what show was better Manchester or Glasgow? Why Glasgow of course is the reply as she tells the crowd that she is losing her voice and its only night two of the UK tour. Girls On The Internet was released on 2nd August and was played perfectly tonight, the guitarist was superb throughout the show and always played with a big smile.
Hush is another memorable track from the 50-minute set, the video for this song works really well while Stay gets the crowd roaring the lyrics back to the stage. Everyone knows what the last song of the set is going to be… none other than BABYDOLL, Ari’s biggest song by far. The crowd were so good tonight helping make this a memorable concert and they took the opportunity to have one last dance and singalong moment ending the night on a high. Remember the name Ari Abdul, she is coming to a bigger venue near you soon! The UK leg of the tour continues in Birmingham and London before moving on the Europe. Look out for an exclusive interview with Ari for Bring The Noise later today. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
