Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan (6th December – O2 Guildhall, Southampton)
DMA’S dropped by the O2 Academy in Glasgow for the second time this year as part of their UK tour which was almost completely sold out, proving that this band from Sydney, Australia have a fearsome reputation for making great music and performing it live. DMA’S fourth album How Many Dreams? was released in April and the crowd were hoping to hear some tracks from that record on this tour.
Tonight’s support were STONE, an alternative rock/punk band from Liverpool who have just released their first EP Punkadonk2 with the frontman Finley Power bringing his explosive lyrics to the Glasgow crowd as their seven-track set began with I let Go and Power screaming into the mic in his thick Liverpudlian accent. Incidentally he comes from a musical family and his father is none other than John Power of Cast and The La’s fame. The four piece band did their best to get the crowd moving and there were certainly a few STONE fans in tonight creating a good buzz down the front as guitarist Elliot Gill and bass player Sarah Surrage (the only non scouser as Finn commented) used the full stage to express themselves. Standout tracks were Money (Hope Aint Gone) and the final track of the night Leave It Out must have had the crowd wondering what had hit them as the intensity increased and loads more fans joining in for one last dance. STONE are touring the UK in February 2024 and we would highly recommend getting along to one of their shows. 9/10
There was no space to move in the standing area at the O2 Academy as DMA’S took to the stage at 9pm to a thunderous roar from the crowd as they played the first notes of iconic track Olympia, instantly recognisable from the first guitar chords from Matthew Mason as the noise levels increased to fever pitch. Vocalist Tommy O’Dell then sang The Glow, the title track from the 2020 record, to absolute perfection and the crowd were quickly onside. A lot of fans were requesting to hear Get Ravey on this tour and the band duly obliged to the request as the first circle pits began down in the stalls as the young crowd enthusiastically danced along. Those fans that have been following DMA’S music for a while were happy to hear some of the older tracks played tonight such as Delete and Straight Dimensions from their debut album Hills End in 2016 and Emily Whyte proved popular with the crowd, a track from the 2018 record For Now. DMA’S have had an enormous connection with their Scottish fans since they first played here and will soon need to look for a bigger arena to perform in with perhaps the Hydro being the next step up.
Fading Like A Picture and Silver are two of DMA’S most popular songs and it was hard at times to even hear the band over the crowd during these class tracks while Feels Like 37 was the last song of the main set and the band left the stage to a thunderous applause but would shortly be back to play a three song encore with Step Up The Morphine going down a treat with very word being sang back to the stage. As it was a Thursday night there was only one song to end the night: Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s The Weekend! Everyone took the last chance of the night to empty their lungs and the noise levels were absolutely incredible during this last song. After finishing the UK tour DMA’S will head off to write some new songs but hopefully they won’t leave it too long before coming back to Glasgow. 10/10
Written By: Alan Brown
