The Feeling: The Greatest Hits Tour 16/05/2024

Rating: ★★★★★

Concorde 2: ★★★★★

Where I stayed: Number Three (Guest house)

SETLIST:

War’s Not Won
Fill My Little World
The Right Wrong
Never Be Lonely
Kettle’s On
Rosé
Helicopter
Foul Weather Friend
Strange
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Sewn
Join With Us
Love It When You Call
I Thought It Was Over (Encore)
Video Killed The Radio Star (The Buggles cover) (Encore)

I was very excited for this, since I have loved The Feeling for a long time and the atmosphere is always amazing at their shows. I couldn’t believe my luck when Callum Beattie was announced as their support act, as he is also fantastic and I know all of his songs. I booked my ticket in August and hoped to see them at The Barrowlands (later changed to Slay Glasgow) but rearranged to see them in Brighton since too many of my events this month started to clash. I had always wanted to visit this beautiful city, so I decided to make a mini beach holiday out of it. I can’t praise Ticketek enough for their excellent customer service and allowing me to exchange my ticket so easily. I was a little apprehensive because I had never bought tickets through them before but I had no issues whatsoever. I also finally got to see ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’, the hit musical Dan Gillespie Sells, lead singer of The Feeling, composed the music for. It came to Glasgow for a few nights, coinciding with when the band were touring. It was great to experience it at last and now the soundtrack, which I had listened to in isolation, makes a lot more sense. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you do so. I knew I had to see The Feeling again, as I had so much fun on their ‘Loss. Hope. Love’ tour in 2022 and seeing them at Audley End House last year, opening for Razorlight. I have been a huge fan of them since their debut album ‘Twelve Stops and Home’ came out in 2006 and it was one of the first albums I went out and bought for myself, so it holds a special place in my heart. I’m still holding out for them to perform ‘Blue Piccadilly’, my favourite track, but a fan’s request for it was denied because it is so long and they would definitely run out of time! DGS told us he had been feeling under the weather since the beginning of the tour, though I wouldn’t have been able to tell since his vocals sounded flawless to me and not at all “rattly”, like he said. I saw on social media that this was the first time they have had to postpone any shows in over twenty years, which is seriously impressive.

Callum Beattie came on at 8pm sharp, to an enthusiastic crowd. Some people were primarily there to see him and I got the impression his biggest fans were following him from venue to venue. Paul and I saw him last year in Inverness, for the first time. His voice is absolutely incredible and has a nice rasp to it. He seems happy to engage with fans and is very likeable. I have seen his name pop up a lot lately, as he is appearing at many popular festivals and opening for Busted in August, which has just been announced. Everyone was listening intently to his more emotionally charged numbers and dancing wildly to his better known songs, as he has something for every mood. He didn’t assume everyone in the room already knew his name and introduced himself, saying he is going to perform a few songs he had written in his bedroom, which made him come across as even more personable. I had forgotten how much I liked his songs and was curious about which ones he would perform for his thirty minute slot, which passed far too quickly for my liking. He livened up the crowd with ‘25 Seconds’, as well as his biggest hits, ‘Heart Stops Beating’ and ‘Let It Fall’. He talked about raising a lot of money for charity, which got a massive cheer from the crowd. He wrote the song ‘Something In My Eye’, which is yet to be released, for people struggling with their mental health and his sincerity was extremely touching. I’m really looking forward to his next album and all of his songs I haven’t heard yet. He talked about Brighton and asked if anyone in the room was actually from the city, probably because he was recognising half of our faces from his previous shows. He gave a shout out to his manager Dave Rogers for all of his hard work and keyboardist Gus Harrower, who he has been touring with for years. I recognised GH since he also tours with Keir Gibson, another of my favourite Scottish musicians. A member of the crowd randomly asked CB if GH snores and he misheard him, thinking he was asking if he “scores”, which caused a lot of hilarity and confusion. Getting back to the tunes, he explained ‘Daddy’s Eyes’ is one of the first songs he had ever written, about how his dad would go out drinking and come back home at 8am, in time to take him to school. That got a big laugh but there seems to be a darker side to the story, which is expressed in the lyrics. A few people booed when he announced his last song, resulting in him joking we were chasing him off the stage and telling him to get back up the road to Edinburgh. He left us by promoting his upcoming tour dates throughout England, saying he will do Brighton again but emphasised it will only be if the shows in Newcastle, Manchester and London sell out. He also pointed out a few of his ‘Vandals’ t-shirts, scattered throughout the crowd, thanking people for buying them, even though they would have cost a fortune. I felt a hint of sadness when he exited the stage but my excitement to see The Feeling soon dulled the pain.

The Feeling walked on at 9pm and launched into ‘Wars Not Won’, from their newest album, ‘San Vito’, released last month. I always look forward to hearing new songs live for the first time and the band certainly didn’t let us down. They sounded utterly gorgeous live and ‘The Right Wrong’, also from ‘San Vito’, ended up being the highlight of the night for me, as the performance was more intense than the studio version. My second favourite song was ‘Strange’, from ‘Twelve Stops At Home’, as they don’t perform it often and I have always related to it. The band gave an energised performance, as usual, even though DGS was still recovering from his illness and sipping tea between songs to help his voice. They thanked us for continuing to support them throughout the years, as their first album is turning twenty years old soon and it amazes them how so many young people in the crowd know all of the words to the songs. I wondered why this tour was named ‘Greatest Hits’ and not after the new album but it might have been to garner interest, as most people know ‘Fill My Little World’ and their other classics. DGS comically pleaded with us to buy the new album from the merch store, warning us we only had an hour to do so if we hadn’t. He wasn’t wrong, as there were no copies left by the time I got there. He joked we were all dead to him if we hadn’t seen ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ yet, as it had been to Brighton about three times. Luckily, seeing it earlier in the week meant I was off the hook. We were provided with a bit of context before they performed the title song, where DGS made all of those lyrics look effortless to memorise, as it is from the perspective of several teenagers who are making things up. DGS had lovely things to say about Brighton, telling us they spent the morning in the spa in the rain and how they used to visit the city as teenagers, seeking somewhere cool to hang out. Richard Jones’ (bass) parents were in the crowd, as they live locally, which made the night even more special. I thought the crowd seemed a little subdued from where I was standing and we were told we were eerily quiet between songs but I watched a video from the night and it looked like everyone was having a good time. DGS might have been right when he said most of the noise would be coming from the bar, in the other room. ‘Sewn’ was emotional as expected, as it is the song which thrust them into the limelight, and ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ ended the night on a high note, as they still like to perform it after starting off their career doing cover songs in small venues.

Like last time, I wish they had been on stage for longer. I could listen to them perform all night and was feeling as high as a kite when I left, even though my energy had been at an all time low when I was queuing. I got a guitar pick from RJ during ‘I Thought It Was Over’, which had actually landed on top of my bag after a perfect throw. Another one for the jar! It doesn’t actually say the band name on it but it has a cute logo of a tortoise, which is almost just as good. I loved how each of the band members had their moment in the spotlight, with attention being drawn to Ciaran Jeremiah for a keyboard solo, Paul Stewart for a drum solo and Kevin Jeremiah for his beautiful vocals during ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’. RJ was at my side of the stage, entertaining us the whole time and climbing on to a platform in front of the stage to get closer to us. I headed to the bar to get some orange juice before it closed, as it gradually became too hot in the venue and there were no members of staff or security in front of the stage to pass out cups of water, like I’ve seen at other places. Possibly because it was too small a space and it didn’t look like it would be comfortable to stand in the tiny gap between the barrier and the stage all night. I enjoyed the venue a lot though, and the sound was crystal clear. I got a white tour t-shirt from the merch stall, so it looked different from the black one I got last time around. There were none left in my size, except the one hanging on display, which was kindly taken down for me. It looked like they had sold most of their merch items by the end of the night, so hopefully they don’t have too much left after their final show in Southampton. I want to see the band every time they tour but will be missing them when they come up to The Black Isle Belter Festival near my hometown later this month, unfortunately, as I will be down in London. I think the people up here will have a great time seeing them though, as they love to party and the whole band are absolutely fantastic and certainly know how to pump up a crowd.

GALLERY

At ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ in Glasgow on Monday night

The venue in the daylight

Callum Beattie and Gus Harrower

Lots of laughs and smiles

The Feeling take to the stage!

Getting everyone in the spirit

Chose a good spot again

I loved the lighting

The best full band pic I could get. Kevin Jeremiah (guitar), Ciaran Jeremiah (keyboard), Dan Gillespie Sells (lead vocals/guitar), Richard Jones (bass) & Paul Stewart (drums)