Tom Odell: Black Friday Tour 11/03/2024

Rating: ★★★★★

O2 Academy Glasgow Rating: ★★★★★

Where I stayed: Ibis Budget Glasgow (Worse than last time, with no hot water on the first day and dodgy lifts… But I would still stay there again)

SETLIST:

The End
Black Friday
Magnetised
Flying :))
Best Day Of My Life
Long Way Down
Grow Old With Me
Loving You Will Be The Death Of Me
lose you again
Hold Me
numb (Encore)
Heal (Encore)
Can’t Pretend (Encore)
Getaway (voice note) (Encore)
The End Of The Summer (Encore)
Parties (Encore)
Nothing Hurts Like Love (Encore)
Another Love (Encore)

I have been a fan of Tom Odell since his debut album, ‘Long Way Down’, in 2013. I headed to this event feeling like I had been a fan of his for a significant chunk of my life, which is maybe why I was so surprised to find a venue full of teenagers and not more people closer my age, in their twenties and thirties. I assumed the majority of his fans would be middle-aged piano-appreciating individuals but he is obviously incredibly popular with the younger demographic too. TO himself is only in his early thirties, so I suppose it makes sense. His biggest hit, ‘Another Love’, is still as played and relevant as ever. I still come across the beautiful song often and it certainly leaves a lasting impact on people. I stumbled upon the video of him performing it at ‘Pukkelpop’ in Belgium last year and the crowd’s reaction was so pure and heart-warming it actually made me well up a bit, which usually takes a lot of effort. If you haven’t seen the video already, I highly recommend it. Since this was the first night of his tour, I wasn’t able to sneak a peek at the setlist online. I prepared by listening to as many of his songs as I could manage before my trip to Glasgow, to refresh my memory. His new album was released at the end of January this year, so I hadn’t fully warmed up to the songs from it apart from the title track, ‘Black Friday’, which already has nearly one billion streams on Spotify. Experiencing them live has changed my perspective and now I have been sticking the album on repeat, appreciating each and every part of it. I had never seen him live before, though I was hoping to catch his CD signing in Glasgow after the release of ‘Best Day Of My Life’ in 2022. The event was inexplicably cancelled and I never heard anything else about it, which was a bit of a downer at the time. My absolute favourite song of his is ‘Silhouette’ but I knew the chances of hearing it on this occasion would be slim, as he has many excellent songs to choose from and I struggle to find live performances of it on YouTube. Travelling down on the bus made for a very long day, so I didn’t want to wait outside the venue for more than an hour. People kept coming from every direction and the queue was absolutely gigantic before doors opened at 7pm. It seemed like eager fans had travelled from all over Europe to be there for opening night. Entry was a lot smoother for me this time, now I knew what to expect. You have to be patted down by someone of the same sex. I also didn’t bring a bag, as the website strongly discouraged doing so.

We were soon packed tightly into the venue and it got uncomfortable pretty quickly. Thankfully, the gorgeous music made all of the discomfort worthwhile. The staff also constantly handed out cups of water to prevent us from becoming dehydrated and I ended up drinking more than I wanted, as nobody behind me accepted the cups when I was instructed to pass them backwards. Their loss. I drifted away from the wildest fans before the starter act, Sofia Isella, came onstage. I missed her introduction, if there was one, though her accent sounded American, which made me wonder how they select the musicians for these tours. It is a great opportunity for her to showcase her abilities and gain more of a following. She sounded absolutely fantastic but it was difficult to hear her over people talking all around me. It was confusing, as they would chat amongst themselves and then turn around and cheer for her whenever she finished singing, as if they were her biggest fans in the world. That’s not to say she didn’t have real fans in the crowd, as I’m sure she would have done. People were keen to catch the t-shirts she threw out into the crowd promoting her music, even though the boy who caught one in front of me complained she had tossed him one in the wrong size (which was an XL, in case anyone is curious). I had never heard of her before but will listen to her songs again to get a better gist of the deep and political messages behind them. She strikes me as an intelligent person and her talent is undeniable, which was most obvious when she dominated the violin during one of the songs. Her style and energy reminded me of Billie Eilish, who is also a quirky and unconventional performer. I definitely sensed a similarity between their songs and overall sound. I found the slight edge to her performance endearing but unfortunately couldn’t fully immerse myself in her music because of the disruptive crowd. Her songs match the tone of a lot of TO’s and she gushed about how she is a massive fan of his. She came across as genuine and lovely, telling us this is her first time in Scotland and thanking us for being so welcoming towards her.

TO came onstage to deafening applause at around 8:30pm, after fans yelling his name for several minutes in anticipation. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, as I had refrained from watching too many videos of his live performances since I wanted to be surprised. I didn’t know if he would have a full orchestra with him or not. He was accompanied by a huge band and several backing singers during his mesmerising performance of ‘Black Friday’ on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ to promote the tour and his 2023 album, ‘Live at Union Chapel’, is orchestral as well. I couldn’t figure out whether the night would be more upbeat or melancholy but it turned out to be a perfect mixture of both, as the band members worked together flawlessly to create something truly magical and inspiring. It wasn’t an entire orchestra of musicians, as he must have set band members he regularly tours with. He explained most of the new album was written with a guitar, which I found fascinating because he is famous for playing the piano. He sat down with a couple of his band members to perform ‘The End Of The Summer’ together, though he warned us he isn’t a skilled guitarist. This, as well as grabbing the microphone and walking about to interact with the fans and make our experience even more special, added a lot of variety to the night. Of course, I wouldn’t complain if he played the piano for the entire set, as he is one of the most talented pianists I have heard. Some of the songs were more energetic than others and an unexpected highlight for me was ‘Parties’, which came late in the set. I completely overlooked the song before hearing it live, where TO sang directly to the crowd and began shouting the lyrics as it gradually increased in intensity. You could feel the beat of the music through your entire body and he was so good that I managed to tune out my surroundings and focus on all of the excitement unfolding onstage. Lots of people were recording him, especially when he stood at the barrier and held their hands etc. I am guilty of taking a lot of photos but I think it’s important to remember to take a breather now and then and not block the view of those behind you. ‘Another Love’ was as spectacular as I imagined it would be, even though I barely heard a word of it over the crowd singing along so loudly. It was the most extreme singalong I have ever experienced, as he was almost overpowered completely. They sang every single word, from beginning to end. You could tell how much this moment meant to TO, as he smiled his way through the whole performance.

The concert ended at about 10pm since there was only one starter act, which is much earlier than I am used to. I was grateful for this, as it gave me plenty of time to walk back to my hotel, grab some snacks and edit my photos before getting ready for bed. Thankfully, I didn’t have an early start the next morning this time around. I chose not to hang back to try and get a setlist, as I ended up in the sixth or seventh row and wouldn’t stand a chance anyway. I don’t know whether TO came out again after the show to chat with everyone who lagged behind but I was desperate to get some fresh air and stretch my legs by that time. I overheard people talking about how impressed they were and how much fun they had. It looked like strangers were engaging in conversation too and it was nice to see music bringing people together in this way. I really hope I get to see him again in the future and I am a little sad I hadn’t gone to one of his events until now, as he blew my mind. Maybe next time he will perform ‘Silhouette’, though I can’t fault the setlist we got. I was really hoping he would do ‘Flying :))’ and I’ve listened to it so often I easily recognised it from the first note. I was also reminded of songs I had been neglecting in recent years and spent most of the bus journey home going through each of his albums all over again, which are all very different sounding, demonstrating his creativity and desire to experiment. ‘monsters’ was my least favourite album of his when I first heard it as it is noticeably less piano-heavy than his previous albums but I have revisited it and would now say it is more sincere and beautiful than I originally realised. His work definitely deserves the attention, so it is great to see him receiving so much praise and recognition for the material he has written. Although he is mostly known for ‘Another Love’, which took the world by storm over a decade ago, his other work is worth any music lover’s time.

GALLERY