Scotland’s breakout star of 2022 took to the stage at a sold-out Fat Sam’s and it was a night that nobody in the crowd will forget anytime soon.
Support came from fellow Glaswegian Murdo Mitchell. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch his set but thankfully he will be returning to Dundee in April as part of his first UK tour. I’ll be sure to catch him this time!
The last time Dylan John Thomas played in Dundee he was the opening act for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Slessor Gardens in June this year, he played an excellent set then but he raised it to a whole new level with this headline show. With the crowd suitably pumped up by Carnival de Paris, the young Glaswegian opened with “Jenna”, the opening track from his self-titled debut EP and the noise from the crowd was something I haven’t heard from a Dundee crowd for a long time. That volume did not drop even for a moment during the hour long set which included covers of Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.
I’ve seen my fair share of mosh pits in my time but rarely have I seen them during acts fronted by an acoustic guitarist, yet there I was finding myself pushed back as the crowd opened up for “Problems”, a suitably bouncy song for the bouncy crowd. After performances of “When I Get Home” and “If I Didn’t Laugh”, the rhythm section left the stage as Thomas and his keyboard player performed the hauntingly beautiful “Wake Up Ma”. It was my personal highlight from a set full of incredible moments, hearing the crowd screaming along to every word was just absolutely stunning, I’d go as far as saying it was my favourite live track I’ve heard this year.
The crowd opened up again for mosh pits during both “Fever” and “Feel the Fire” as the crowd savoured every second of the funky basslines, bounce inducing drums and Thomas’ catchy vocals. We were then treated to a short rendition of “Hey Good Lookin’” before the penultimate track of the main set “What A Shame”, the closing song from his second EP featuring some lovely guitar playing from Thomas. Finally, the set closer “What I Need”, the only song in the set that I hadn’t heard before so that was a nice moment for me. I was clearly in the minority though as it seemed everyone else in the room knew every single word.
After a short break the band were back on stage for a two-song encore, a cover of “Ring of Fire” before the 15 song set was rounded off by “Nobody Else”, Thomas’ first release from back in 2019 and a fitting finish to a show that was a real cardio tester for the crowd. This is the third time I’ve seen DJT live and I had high hopes going into this one but I honestly could not have imagined just how sensational it was going to be, undoubtedly the best live performance I have seen in this city for a number of years. Hopefully, we’ll see him return to Dundee in the near future, could a sold-out show at the Caird Hall be on the cards? I can absolutely see it.
