James Blunt: The Who We Used To Be Tour 05/04/2024

Rating: ★★★★★

The OVO Hydro Rating: ★★★★★

Where I stayed: Ibis Budget Glasgow (I’ve warmed up to it and it is my new go-to hotel)

SETLIST:

Beside You
Saving A Life
Wisemen
Carry You Home
All The Love That I Ever Needed
Dark Thought
Goodbye My Lover
High
The Girl That Never Was
Love Under Pressure
Postcards
I Won’t Die With You
Coz I Luv You (Slade cover)
You’re Beautiful
Same Mistake
Stay The Night
OK (Robin Schulz cover)
Monsters (Encore)
Bonfire Heart (Encore)
1973 (Encore)

A lot of James Blunt’s songs are very nostalgic for me. I used to listen to his famous (or infamous, some might say) album, ‘Back To Bedlam’, released in 2004, on repeat during my childhood and well into my teenage years. My top favourite songs of his are still ‘High’ (the very first song on the album) and ‘Goodbye My Lover’. These songs were actually placed back-to-back for this world tour, which made for a very exciting six plus minutes for me. This was early in the night and I joked to Paul that he peaked in that moment and I could go home early as I wasn’t feeling very well but of course this wasn’t actually the case, as he has an incredible catalogue of songs. I think the setlist was perfect and included a good variety of songs from each of the albums he has released throughout the years. I adore the new album, ‘Who We Used To Be’, which this tour is obviously based on. Paul also got me his book for Christmas (JB clearly had a very productive 2023) which I hoped to finish before seeing him live but sadly ran out of time. I watched an interview where he laughed about not changing the names of the people he wrote about and deciding to embellish the stories instead, not unlike what some newspaper journalists do. I have been following him on Twitter (now known as X, which I can’t get my head around) for years and he is constantly entertaining fans with his quick wit and self-deprecating humour. So, it’s safe to say I didn’t need much persuasion to get in line for a ticket. I bought it during the pre-sale back in August and the website froze for a whopping twenty to thirty minutes, which proves he does have masses of fans out there. When I eventually secured a ticket, I was told I would be seated anywhere in row F-H, or K-M, on the left-hand side. The tickets in the central area cost double the price and I couldn’t justify spending that much, since I have so many more concerts to attend this year. This was the first time I haven’t been told a specific seat or row when purchasing a ticket and a few people were moaning about it online but, to be honest, I quite enjoyed the suspense of waiting to receive my physical ticket in the post with all the details on it. This was my first time seeing him live and he certainly did not disappoint. I considered going to one of his shows last year when my concert journeys were in full-swing but he didn’t come this far north, unfortunately.

Paul kept me company outside the venue for a few minutes before they started letting people indoors and he swiftly exited in the opposite direction. I headed straight to one of the merch stalls and snagged a signed programme and some nice pin badges. I was thinking a t-shirt would put me over my budget but I ended up spending almost as much on the aforementioned items and even more on food and drink. I have no regrets, though I ended up spilling my wine and spending the whole interval after the opening act, Lucy Spraggan, drying myself off in the toilets, Mr. Bean style. There was definitely more wine in that cup than there appeared to be, so I will no longer slag off The Hydro for their small serving sizes. LS didn’t come onstage until more than an hour after doors, which made the first part of the evening feel really slow. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I had arrived a little later, had someone to talk to, or didn’t feel as if I was on my deathbed. I didn’t know her before this but her name rang a bell. I read afterwards she was a contestant on ‘The X Factor’ in 2012, where she auditioned with one of her own compositions, ‘Last Night’, gaining immediate attention and admiration from the general public. Her songs didn’t fully captivate me on the night but that might be because I was in the middle of being struck down by an illness, probably due to the constant rain and unforgiving wintry conditions we have all been suffering through. And here I was, really looking forward to Spring as if I haven’t been living in Scotland all my life. LS appeared to have a lot of confidence and pride in her material, with her bold and unique sound setting her apart. At one point, she split us down the middle to sing parts of ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ by The Proclaimers with her, which didn’t get as big a reaction as I had anticipated. The song which stuck in my mind after the show was ‘Lightning’, her last song of the night, from her 2019 album ‘Today Was A Good Day’. It is extremely catchy and I can imagine friends gathering around a campfire and singing it in harmony. For some reason, that image sprung to mind when she was performing it, even though I have never witnessed such a thing in real life. She treated us to ten or so upbeat songs and I can see the similarities between her music and JB’s, especially since a lot of their songs are so guitar-heavy. It would be fun to see them sing a duet together. I think she was an excellent fit for the opening act and I look forward to giving her music a second chance. I have already followed her on Spotify. I usually complain when there are two opening acts but I have gotten used to that set-up and it felt strange only having one this time around.

The stage finally came back to life for JB’s first song of the evening, ‘Beside You’, which is one of the dancier tracks off the new album. It got everybody energised and brought to my attention the men in the arena were by far the most vocal of the superfans. He expressed his enthusiasm for touring, saying he bought new jeans and shoes for the occasion but kept the same old band. He promised new songs all night but understood fans have their long-established favourites. ‘Carry You Home’ received one of the biggest singalongs and it was clear there were tons of dedicated fans present, hanging on to every word he said and sang. He said in an interview a lot of his fans appear to be in their early twenties, which confused him. He thinks maybe it is thanks to the recent dance songs he made, such as ‘OK’ with Robin Schulz. But everyone knows who James Blunt is. He never disappeared. The singing didn’t let up as the night progressed and he saved ‘1973’, an undeniable crowd favourite, for last, to go out with a bang. He spoke a lot between songs, encouraging us to ignore the “fun police” and forget our seats were there, so we could get up and dance. The Hydro looked bizarre with all those seats, since I had never been there without a general admission crowd and didn’t even know floor seating was a possibility. He explained he originally wanted to be a rock star playing an electric guitar in a band but joked you need friends to do that, so he ended up singing “miserable” songs by himself. His songs allegedly got happier when we started buying his albums but became sadder again once he had children. The crowd laughed and booed, which is unsettling if some of the people booing actually have kids of their own. ‘Dark Thought’ was a standout song from the night, written about the late Carrie Fisher, who he lived with in Los Angeles. He shared fascinating stories, including how she had a Christmas tree in her house all year long, chandeliers in the trees in her garden and a piano in her bathroom, which he famously recorded ‘Goodbye My Lover’ on. Many of the songs were emotional, such as ‘The Girl That Never Was’ and ‘Monsters’, which are about very personal moments of his life. He got the girls to sing along with him for ‘High’, stating only he and Mariah Carey can hit the high notes. And maybe dolphins. He was constantly lightening the mood before things got too dark. We all turned on our phone torches for his favourite song, ‘Same Mistake’, effectively lighting up the large venue. He asked the men to turn theirs on too, although he imagined they were probably dragged to the event against their will and saving their batteries for the taxi rides home. I found it interesting that his biggest hit, ‘You’re Beautiful’, did not have a more prominent placement in the setlist, nor a big fuss made of it. He came across genuinely grateful for the large turnout and mentioned other venues he has played at in Glasgow in the past – Barrowlands, King Tut’s and The Armadillo. It’s a wonder he has never played at The Hydro before but I suppose it is relatively new, in the grand scheme of things. I had a great time, even though I wasn’t feeling well. I have been enjoying re-living the concert again and again in my head since I came home.

People started to trickle out during the last song and Paul met me outside when it was over, telling me he heard a bit of it although it was muffled and he couldn’t identify which song it was. Obviously, I need to play more JB albums in his presence to get him more familiar with the songs. He also relayed to me for the purpose of this blog that he over-heard fans discussing how brilliant the sound was and how intense some of the songs were to listen to and I fully agree. I didn’t hear any comments of interest as I was exiting, since I got distracted by members of staff handing out free cups of water. I don’t know why they waited until we were leaving to offer them to us but I never complain about free stuff and downed the liquid without questioning it too much. I’m pretty sure they charge nearly £5 for water in there normally, as I asked for some one time when I was being uncharacteristically health-conscious. I wasn’t about to pass up that kind of opportunity. By the time I remembered I like to eavesdrop on people’s conversations, as they could potentially provide me with decent material, it was too late and I was already outside, surprised by the fact it had finally stopped raining. The Hydro has somewhat of a bad reputation when it comes to acoustics but I have never had a problem, all the times I have been there. In fact, I would say it is one of the better venues I have been to and I’m really looking forward to going there again for Blink-182 in August. I wasn’t in much of a partying spirit because of reasons I mentioned earlier but the atmosphere remained good as we walked back to the hotel and I was telling Paul about all the excitement he had missed out on. I got him to listen to my bad phone recording of ‘High’, which I will treasure forever, but he firmly stands by his decision not to go. I still need to read the rest of JB’s book, ‘Loosely Based On A Made-Up Story: A Non-Memoir’, which is easily one of the best titles I have ever come across. So far it is equally funny and raw, as expected. He doesn’t hold back but that shouldn’t come as a surprise, either. There were signed copies of the book at the merch stall too, which I had forgotten to mention. I would absolutely love to see him again. I just hope he doesn’t wait too long to return to Scotland.

GALLERY