Despite being from a somewhat hotter climate over 10,000 miles away from the Dear Green Place, there seems to be a connection between the Glasgow crowd and the DMA’s that would make you think they were from Shettleston, not Sydney.
It feels like a home away from home for the Australian artists and the crowd in the O2 Academy, just south of the River Clyde, didn’t half roll out the red carpet for their return last Thursday.
The band opened the set with the track Olympia from their 2023 album How Many Dreams? and the place erupted, pints flying as the crowd bounced along with the beat. Followed by tracks from albums The Glow and their 2016 debut record Hills End, emphasising that they’ve been pulling punches in the industry for some time now.
Fan favourites Emily Whyte and In The Air slowed things down and allowed a sing-along that brightened up the room before the loudest cheer of the night came for their track Silver. This is when the crowd and the band took it up a level and the atmosphere was electric. Frontman Tommy O’Dell bouncing around and letting the crowd take the credit for belting out the chorus.
Following a brief departure from stage after the popular tracks Delete and Feels like 37, the boys re-emerged for an encore of Step Up The Morphine, Lay Down and the very fitting Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s The Weekend. It was the perfect end to the perfect gig. The line from that final song “casual casualties of smoking and drinking” feeling very appropriate as the sweaty gig-goers staggered out into the winter night.