David Gray - Glasgow - Royal Concert Hall - Monday 30 June 2014
At ‘T In The Park’ back in the year 2000 a mate of mine dragged me out of my tent rather early in the day as I attempted to get some much needed sleep to compensate for the lack of it the night before. His reasoning for this was to get down to the main stage early and catch an artist he had heard a lot of positive things about. That artist was David Gray!
Despite the fuzzy head I was suffering, there were a few things I remember about that particular performance, namely: the fantastic voice, the “bobbing” head movement throughout the set and the sound of David Gray which was completely different to anything else that my mate or I were listening to at the time. My mate informed me David Gray had been gradually making a name for himself receiving particular support in Ireland and in the weeks and months following TITP it appeared David Gray exploded and was being played everywhere.
Since then David has been nominated for numerous Brit Awards, built up a significant following in the USA and continues to release relevant and popular albums. This tour supports his latest album Mutineers and on this hot July night a packed out Concert Hall eagerly awaits his arrival on stage following support act John Smith.
The opening tracks come heavily for Mutineers with ‘Gulls’, ‘The Incredible’, ‘Back In The World’ and ‘As The Crow Flies’ all featuring early on. Album title track ‘Mutineers’ follows before ‘Birds Of The High Artic’ brings an end to the run of songs from the current album. With Mutineers having only been released a couple of weeks before it is evident there are many fans in attendance yet to become familiar with these songs and when David dips into 2005 release Life in Slow Motion for ‘Ain’t No Love’, ‘Alibi’ and the poignant ‘The One I Love’ the response from the crowd is rapturous.
The Concert Hall fits perfectly with the sound and the new songs being showcased songs great live as David fleets between his piano and guitar. The stage set-up is impressive in its own right with 2 backing singers and a variety of musicians supporting David on-stage throughout the performance. ‘My Oh My’ from the multi-selling White Ladder gets the audience on their feet before David reverts once again to his latest album with ‘Cake And Eat It’, ‘Last Summer’ and my own favourite from the album ‘Snow In Vegas’ getting a run out.
For die-hard fans, the tour is living up to the tag with Mutineers material dominating the set. For me personally, I would have preferred a few more from the back-catalogue and it is great to hear the distinctive ‘Sail Away’ and ‘The Other Side’. Pleasingly there are also a few songs from the Draw The Line album with ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Fugitive’ sounding immense.
After a short break David returns to the stage for a solo spot with crowd favourite ‘Babylon’ getting almost everyone in the Concert Hall on their feet and singing at the top of their lungs. The set is then closed out with ‘Nemesis’ and David and his band thank the crowd and bid their farewells!
All in, a great night with David and his band sounding terrific and reminding those in attendance exactly why he continues to remain popular to this day.
Words: Bazza Mills
At ‘T In The Park’ back in the year 2000 a mate of mine dragged me out of my tent rather early in the day as I attempted to get some much needed sleep to compensate for the lack of it the night before. His reasoning for this was to get down to the main stage early and catch an artist he had heard a lot of positive things about. That artist was David Gray!
Despite the fuzzy head I was suffering, there were a few things I remember about that particular performance, namely: the fantastic voice, the “bobbing” head movement throughout the set and the sound of David Gray which was completely different to anything else that my mate or I were listening to at the time. My mate informed me David Gray had been gradually making a name for himself receiving particular support in Ireland and in the weeks and months following TITP it appeared David Gray exploded and was being played everywhere.
Since then David has been nominated for numerous Brit Awards, built up a significant following in the USA and continues to release relevant and popular albums. This tour supports his latest album Mutineers and on this hot July night a packed out Concert Hall eagerly awaits his arrival on stage following support act John Smith.
The opening tracks come heavily for Mutineers with ‘Gulls’, ‘The Incredible’, ‘Back In The World’ and ‘As The Crow Flies’ all featuring early on. Album title track ‘Mutineers’ follows before ‘Birds Of The High Artic’ brings an end to the run of songs from the current album. With Mutineers having only been released a couple of weeks before it is evident there are many fans in attendance yet to become familiar with these songs and when David dips into 2005 release Life in Slow Motion for ‘Ain’t No Love’, ‘Alibi’ and the poignant ‘The One I Love’ the response from the crowd is rapturous.
The Concert Hall fits perfectly with the sound and the new songs being showcased songs great live as David fleets between his piano and guitar. The stage set-up is impressive in its own right with 2 backing singers and a variety of musicians supporting David on-stage throughout the performance. ‘My Oh My’ from the multi-selling White Ladder gets the audience on their feet before David reverts once again to his latest album with ‘Cake And Eat It’, ‘Last Summer’ and my own favourite from the album ‘Snow In Vegas’ getting a run out.
For die-hard fans, the tour is living up to the tag with Mutineers material dominating the set. For me personally, I would have preferred a few more from the back-catalogue and it is great to hear the distinctive ‘Sail Away’ and ‘The Other Side’. Pleasingly there are also a few songs from the Draw The Line album with ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Fugitive’ sounding immense.
After a short break David returns to the stage for a solo spot with crowd favourite ‘Babylon’ getting almost everyone in the Concert Hall on their feet and singing at the top of their lungs. The set is then closed out with ‘Nemesis’ and David and his band thank the crowd and bid their farewells!
All in, a great night with David and his band sounding terrific and reminding those in attendance exactly why he continues to remain popular to this day.
Words: Bazza Mills