Dylan John Thomas has an army of fans in Glasgow and this was by far his most ambitious show to date, none other than a night at the OVO Hydro with fans travelling from all over to see the talented singer/songwriter play the last show of his UK tour. It was also the last day of school in the West of Scotland before the Christmas break so a good few thousand eager teenagers made their way West, we have never seen the trains so jam packed! Now that is when the chaos began … we waited around an hour to gain entry to the OVO Hydro meaning that we would miss opening support act Murdo Mitchell but we did make it in time to see main support Vistas.
Prentice Robertson (vocals & guitar), Dylan Rush (guitar) and Jamie Law (bass) took to the stage around 8pm as the arena was still filling up with everyone that was stranded in the queue outside. Vistas have released three albums to date and we would get to hear a mixture of tracks from those during the half hour set with Retrospect, their most popular track being left to the end of the set. We were lucky enough to see them play an hour’s set at the TRNSMT Festival back in July where they attracted a decent crowd to the King Tut’s stage, tonight the thirty minutes were over fat too quickly! A few of the highlights being Tigerblood, Everything Changes In The End, Sentimental, 15 years and Back Of The Car. 8/10
We had been in among the standing area for the support but soon moved upstairs to find a seat to get a better view of the show, there were a few incidents in the crowd delaying the appearance of Dylan John Thomas but once he did appear the atmosphere in the OVO Hydro was electric. Everyone knew that Jenna was going to be the opening track tonight as it is one of those numbers that gets the crowd moving early on and was always the first song on this 2024 UK tour. Sure enough it was again tonight and the iconic venue exploded into life and would basically continue in this manner for the remainder of the fifteen track set. Dylan released his self-titled album in February of this year from which we would get to hear most of the tracks as the set continued with When I Get Home and Rich Boy; with a very catchy chorus and just about everyone singing along, the show isn’t completely sold out tonight but there must be around eleven-thousand fans here tonight, something the band will be proud of.
Wake Up Ma is always the song that tugs at the heart strings during the live shows and tonight was no different as Thomas and his keyboard player worked up a good response from the fans once again. The live version of this track appears on his debut album and is well worth a listen, the song being recorded during one of the Barrowland shows. Champs-Elysees has quickly become a personal, favourite from the album with the infectious energy of the song, ok the whistling part is replaced by his guitar tonight but it really is a fantastic track. The enthusiastic crowd are turning this show into one big party and bringing energy we don’t see enough of in these bigger arenas. The energy levels during Feel The Fire are palpable, it seems like the whole standing area is bouncing, Dylan throws in a cheeky wee cover of ABBA song Mamma Mia but has to cut it off halfway through as a couple of teenagers have collapsed in the crowd. He is soon back to finish the song off. Up In The Air is one of the best of the set and is another with a very infectious chorus played in true Ska style. Problems also gets a great response from the crowd, the atmosphere around us in the seats is memorable tonight with loads of people up dancing and singing along, sometimes the OVO Hydro can be a hit or a miss when it comes to the crowds. We were delighted when Dylan played a new song for us – Got You On My Mind – he has done well to keeps this one under wraps until now and means we can definitely look forward to some new music from him in 2025, he already has a couple of shows booked in England for April next year so we are hoping a Scottish date is also added.
There are a few stop starts as Dylan asks the security to give out as much water as they can to those down the front of the standing area, the set soon continues with the excellent Yesterday Is Gone and What I Need, the last of the main set. There are two songs in the encore as we move towards the end of the night, Nobody Else has the full crowd singing the lyrics before he closes with Fever ending the night with an explosion of energy and streamers falling from above the crowd. The only question now is where does Dylan John Thomas play next? The OVO Hydro is one of the biggest arenas in Scotland, it might have to be Hampden Park next time, if he teams up with a band such as The Snuts then this is very possible. Here’s hoping! 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
