The Scottish weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of those that turned out to see Amy Macdonald at the O2 Academy in Glasgow as she tours the country on the aptly named Love Love Tour (which is also the name of her current single).
First stop, the merchandise stall. Yes merchandise. Available to purchase on the night were T-shirts, mugs, bags, song book, programmes and Live CD. Unfortunately, the CD was not of that night’s show but of the first night of the tour, recorded in Manchester.Still, a whole show across 3 CDs for £20…Now it’s time to take up position for the rest of the night.
First to enter the stage is not Alan Powell as for weeks have been touted both on the venue site and tickets. No. He’s no longer appearing. Instead, we’re introduced to Pete Lawrie, a singer/songwriter from Wales. To break the ice with the audience, he politely announces that his mother is from Scotland and asks if that qualifies him as Scottish. He powers through a solid set including the tracks, How Could I Complain, Jimmy and the Birds On Fire (which is about falling out with friends and not getting back in contact) and current single In The End (also the name of his forthcoming EP, released at the end of the month).
No sooner is he off the stage than the stage crew are in prepping for the main event. A quick turnaround and the main lights go down, the crowd goes wild and it’s on with the show.
The show kicks off as many of her gigs have recently with An Ordinary Life. Although tonight there is something different in the sound of the music. Maybe it because it’s the usual foursome (Mark (Guitar), Sam (Drums), Ben (Bass) and Shannon (Keys)) are joined by an additional multi-instrumentalist Owen Parker. From this we go straight into the rocking Poison Prince. After this, Amy takes a moment to properly speak to the crowd and thank them for turning out and talks about how the home crowd is always the best. Continuing with tracks from This Is The Life, we’re treated to L.A. and the one of the first tracks Amy ever wrote Youth of Today. Next we’re onto current single and tour name Love Love which leads us into the ever popular Mr Rock & Roll, which in all fairness, does end up sounding like a giant singalong.
Giving the band a chance to prep, Amy tells us about how she is constantly asked about what it’s like being a WAG, to which, she responds that she doesn’t see herself as one. This leads us onto Footballer’s Wife. After this she tells us about a performance that they made where the person responsible for booking them obviously hadn’t heard the song that they would be performing and how it seemed a little controversial seeing as the event was a beauty pageant and the song was This Pretty Face. From this we go into Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over which gets the crowd going from the very first note.
Announcing that she’s going to slow it down a little, we’re treated to the beautiful Troubled Soul and Give It All Up. Once again the crowd get going with Next Big Thing. Now we’re given a tale about how she gets to travel and do different things from singing the national anthem at Hampden before the Scotland/Spain game to performing in Luxembourg with an orchestra at the weekend. This of course leads to the song from which the current album’s title is taken from, No Roots. The next song is Run which, as Amy recalls seeing The Killers in this very venue and being inspired to write the song. Again this is another singalong for the crowd. From this, they go into Spark.
Now she tells about how Glasgow always gets a bad reputation for it’s binge drinking but how, if it hadn’t been for it, that the next track would never have been born. This track is the title track to the debut album, This Is The Life. She finishes with the track What Happiness Means To Me. Again the crowd sing their hearts out and at some points one would swear that Amy was about to start crying. At the end of this, she shouts goodnight and herself and the band leave the stage. It doesn’t take long before the chants of ‘Amy! Amy!” begin. Soon, she returns to the stage and performs her version of Bruce Spingsteen classic Born To Run. This once more has the crowd singing along with her at the top of their voices. The final song of the night is Let’s Start A Band which brings the night to close on a high.
Overall, the night was a complete success. The songs sounded different and this is more than likely down to the inclusion of the additional band member Owen. The live versions of the songs never sound the same and some are given a little change from the album or usual version. Her chat or ‘banter’ as would be said in Scotland, broke the night up so that it wasn’t just constant music. The little anecdotes give the fan an insight into what inspires Amy to write her songs. With a good mixture from both her albums, the set list ensured that there was something for everyone. The crowd appeared to be really enthusiastic joining in with the songs and generally having a great time. Hopefully the rest of the tour will go just as smoothly as this night did.
Photos © Vhari Lannigan
Pete Lawrie (Official Website)
Downloads @ Amazon.co.uk | Downloads @ iTunes
Amy Macdonald (Official Website)
Buy @ Amazon.co.uk | Downloads @ iTunes
No comments:
Post a Comment