The Feeling: Loss Hope Love Tour 18/10/2022

I’ve been a huge fan of The Feeling since I first heard ‘Fill My Little World’ and ‘Sewn’ all the way back in 2006 but I’d never seen them live before. ‘FMLW’ was my favourite song when it came out and I played it countless times. It’s just such a fun and uplifting song which fills me with so much joy and energy every time I hear it. I’ve got all six of their studio albums and am up to date with their new material, so was looking forward to seeing which songs they’d select. The band posted on Twitter a day or two before asking us to vote which song we’d like to hear the most out of everything they’ve done, promising the one with the most votes would make it into the setlist. Well, I voted for ‘Blue Piccadilly’ (as did the majority of fans, as far as I could make out) but it didn’t make it. It’s my favourite of theirs now, followed by ‘Feel Something’. Maybe I’ll get to hear them perform those songs some other time. I bullied Paul into voting for it too but he suggested they maybe didn’t choose ‘BP’ because it’s on the slower side and not the liveliest one to get people in the party mood. They opted to perform ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ as the fan favourite, a B-Side to one of their singles from their first album ‘Twelve Stops and Home’. It was great to hear live and an unusual choice.

Paul and I took it easy in the morning and left Inverness at around 9:30am because doors didn’t open until 7pm and we know from experience arriving one or two hours early is normally more than enough time to get a good spot at small venues such as this one. The only time this wasn’t the case was when I saw twenty one pilots in London and the queue had wrapped around multiple blocks by the evening. It was lovely being able to chill in the passenger seat and not having to wait for a bus this time around. We stopped at Harvester in Perth for drinks and lunch (in that order – for me, anyway). It is quickly becoming very nostalgic for me and one of my favourite places, since we ate there before Coldplay and Ed Sheeran as well. I’ve done some really amazing things this year, so I’m glad I’ve been blogging all of it to help me remember everything. They play a lot of my favourite songs on the radio at Harvester unlike most restaurants, so they get extra bonus points for that too. They didn’t play any songs by The Feeling though, sadly. We checked into our hotel as soon as we were able to and didn’t waste a lot of time before heading for St Luke’s. Paul paid to park in someone’s driveway again (that has got to be one of the best apps ever invented) and they advertised their parking spot as being a nineteen second walk from the venue. So precise. The weather was inexplicably gorgeous for Glasgow in mid-October. We seem to have a lot of luck with that.

We had drinks at the venue (is it the Winged Ox part?) and ended up sitting on the steps in front of the main door to listen to the sound-check. It was clearer from outside than in the bar. This was the first night of their UK tour (the first in four years, according to their Twitter post) so we didn’t know which songs the setlist was going to consist of. Well, we had a fair idea because we know what their most popular songs are and the tour poster hinted at songs from the new musical ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’. They practised the opening of ‘High Like You’ a few times, which I enjoyed a lot since it’s my favourite song from their new album. We met people outside who have been fans of the band for a long time and have attended many of their gigs, even befriending the band members over time. Paul was not the biggest fan of the band before seeing them live but appreciates them a lot more now and has even added quite a few of their songs to his car playlist. His favourite from the night was ‘Love People’ and mine was ‘Sewn’ since I’ve adored it for so long and was completely in the spirit of things by the time it came up. I was surprised they didn’t use ‘Fill My Little World’ as their final song but it was nice they mixed things up by doing the Queen cover last. I looked up their past setlists and saw they did a rock medley (covering different decades) for a few of their more recent shows. That would be cool to experience but I’m glad we got mostly original songs instead. Hearing ‘High Like You’ and ‘FMLW’ back to back was incredible and the songs work well together even though they’re from their first and latest album, sixteen years apart. Paul was happy he knew the first few songs they performed as he thought there could be a lot he isn’t familiar with.

We were the first people inside the venue and got our St Luke’s entry stamps before heading into the main area. The lights were strong and very blue, which made Paul’s reflective t-shirt light up like a beacon so he couldn’t help but stand out, much to his dismay and my amusement. I said he has to wear bright yellow to every single thing we go to from now on because this always happens to him and it’s never not funny. I didn’t hesitate before walking straight to the centre of the stage in front of the microphone. The women we met outside joined either side of us and didn’t mind I’d taken that central spot. People are generally very friendly at these things, I’ve found out. I’d spent so much of my time fearing social interaction but it went pretty well, even though I was high as a kite with excitement and probably an embarrassment to Paul. He visited the merch stall early on and got the exclusive limited signed poster and tour t-shirts for each of us. There was a mix-up regarding the price of the poster but we got it for £10 in the end, which is a steal. I don’t know if this is the price it’s meant to be, or £25 which they were originally charging for it. £10 seems really low. I love it and framed it before we even got home.

The opening band came on quickly after we all made it inside. They’re called Altameda and travelled all the way from Canada for this tour. They said they had a thirty plus hour journey and told us later (when we randomly bumped into them at our hotel) a lot of their luggage got lost on the way. That sounds exhausting. I asked Paul how these things get arranged because that seems like a long way to come for a ten date UK tour and I wondered how they couldn’t have found a more local band to open for them. It’s a good way to get their name known overseas though, so that’s maybe why they did it. I hadn’t heard of them before but they were great and I’ll definitely look up their songs again. They had a brilliant energy and were very memorable compared to a lot of opening acts, in my opinion. Paul loved how happy the bass player looked and kept trying to get a good photo of him. It was difficult to get the full band in one shot because of the smoke machines and bright lighting – the band members in the background became silhouettes. I’d need to listen to the songs again to remember the specific titles but Paul got a picture of the setlist from the stage, so I have that to refer to and recall which ones they did. My only complaint is the vocals (for both bands but mainly Altameda) felt partly drowned out by the music. I’m not sure if it was because we were right at the front and being so close messed with our hearing or if it was a technical issue but it was slightly distracting. I could still make out the lyrics and appreciate the music, so it didn’t matter much.

The Feeling came on next to a lot of applause. Dan Gillespie Sells is a brilliant showman and very funny. Paul had fun photographing the event because of his many poses. They went straight in with ‘High Like You’, which got people bouncing up and down and clapping right away. There were clearly lots of fans of the new album present, as you’d expect. The atmosphere was fantastic and the venue was full of people. It felt bigger than it is because there is an upstairs with balconies of various levels. Paul and I were entertained by an enthusiastic couple on one of the top balconies who were dancing and cheering like there was no tomorrow. DGS said he loves a black-out after the end of songs because people know when to clap, which was really funny and made sense. This made it difficult for him to read the setlist between songs and remember which one was coming next, however. I wonder if they’ll switch it up much as the tour goes on or keep it more or less the same. I always think it would be confusing to change it around too much, as you get accustomed to certain songs following others. We spotted two setlists on the stage and Paul managed to get me one just as the night came to a close. He asked a member of staff if he could retrieve it for us and he kindly did so. I’ve never managed to get one off the stage before, so am incredibly excited to finally own one. He took a photo of it before the gig started so I could see what was on it.

DGS discussed the early days when they were recording ‘Twelve Stops and Home’ (I’m sure it was before they performed ‘Rosé’) and accidentally said “the twelve of us” instead of “the five of us” when talking about the band members. After everyone laughed at his mistake, he joked there were originally twelve of them but they got rid of several people as it’s a “cut-throat business”. He says they drank a lot of rosé before writing that song because it was on sale but once he got down to actually writing it properly it became a song about people who don’t quite fit in. It’s one of their most beloved songs, so I’m delighted I finally got to hear it live. I was half-expecting it to just be DGS and the piano but I loved the full-band arrangement they used for this version. It was interesting to listen to the song again after a number of years and realise how it really does seem to be about a bottle of rosé! He said the new album is very political but he felt they needed to include at least one love song, so that’s where ‘Never Gave Up’ came in. It is beautiful and I never noticed it is the only love song on the new album. It is incredible and definitely my favourite album of theirs after ‘Twelve Stops and Home’. This year has been such a good one for new music and I can’t get over how much amazing material has been released. At least some positive things came out of lockdown. I usually listen to the new album in its entirety and don’t just stick to one or two songs from it. They’re all that good. I think they did an excellent job picking which ones to perform from it on this tour (I agree ‘High Like You’ was a must) but I would have loved to have heard ‘On The Edge’, which is reminiscent of ‘Strange’, another one of my favourite songs of theirs.

It was a lot of fun hearing the ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ songs performed by the band instead of the original cast members. Since DGS wrote the songs, it was great to hear his rendition of them. I haven’t actually seen the musical yet but I’ve signed up to the website newsletter to find out about future tour dates. He said it should come to Glasgow in the later half of 2023, so I look forward to that. I didn’t realise they made a movie of it (I’m so out of the loop when it comes to new film releases) but he told us it’s available now to watch on Amazon Prime. He said not many people have that though because of the “cost of living crisis” but most people know someone who does. Paul has it, so I will be stealing his login details for this one. He joked he recommends piracy if it comes down to it and explained how the songs from the musical have the most lyrics of any songs he’s ever written and he forgot a couple of them mid-performance. It was noticeable but he recovered well, being a professional. At the end, he claimed he should’ve got the original cast members to come on and perform it properly for us. He proudly announced ‘This Was Me’ is his favourite song from the musical and his performance was captivating. I listened to the soundtrack a while back but want to experience all of the songs live.

They did the Queen cover last – ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’. DGS said their favourite band growing up was Queen so “it’s only right” they “butcher one of their songs”. It was a very passionate and high energy cover. This was a great choice for the last song because most people in the room would know it was not a cliché song most people would expect. At the end, he felt obligated to plug the merch they all worked hard to create. He thought he really should be wearing one of the tour t-shirts to promote them but admitted the white shirt is much more him. Paul said there was even a cook book for sale at the stall. I’m wondering if it is the Sophie Ellis-Bextor one. I didn’t know until afterwards that she and Richard Jones (the bass guitar player from the band) are married. I think it may have been her one, which I saw promoted on Instagram recently. The night ended before I felt ready for it to. Still, it was an incredible night and I’m glad Paul enjoyed himself more than he expected to. I knew I would have an amazing time, as these songs mean a lot to me. I’m getting braver, so we waited outside the venue for DGS to come out. He only took about thirty minutes to exit the venue and spoke with his most dedicated fans first (they were closest to the door) – catching up with them for a while before security tried to hurry things along as they had to get moving. He had a bag of lemons to make a drink (presumably on the tour bus) and laid them on the ground in order to sign things and take photos with us all. He is lovely. I’m always nervous to meet people I admire in case they let me down somehow but there’s no way he could have done. It was a brilliant night and one I’ll always remember.

GALLERY: