Glass Animals Review Friday, 14 July 2017

Diana Marosi

On the 19^th of March 2017, during and after an intro act from The Roosevelts, of which I and Abraham have not heard before and who gave us mixed feelings, people from very diverse generations gathered to witness the Oxonians from Glass Animals in the other place, Cambridge. The floor was a 50-40-10 mix of under-20s, over-20s and over-40s which surprised me, pleased me, and made me wish that in 20-30 years I will have the joie de vivre, good taste and interest in the current musical scene as those older than me, now facing the stage, have. The main act let its fans wait for a bit, but not for too long, unlike an international superstar band who takes itself way too seriously.

I rarely go to pop music concerts, but never in my life have I seen so much joy in one’s work as I’ve seen in Dave Bayley’s performance. The way in which he was enjoying himself and the audience’s reaction made me feel ecstatic (this is something I don’t say very often, so it really should be taken literally). Glass Animals opened with 'Life Itself', a song from their second album, and probably my favourite, letting Abraham wait for his 'Black Mambo'. It is very hard indeed to pick a favourite from their songs because, although those most well known sound quite alike and have a similar vibe, each had another story and offered you another environment to discover and to roam into. We listened to and danced on well-established hits and on new-to-me songs – some slow, some with tints of dubstep, some original, some remixed by them; this is how I found 'Pork Soda'. The classic disco ball is replaced in the Junction with a gigantic pineapple which was reflecting the lightshow happening on the stage, a serendipitous alignment with a pineapple found in one of Glass Animals’ lyrics. They were asked to come back on the stage twice by the audience who wanted to hear just one more song and pleased the crowd playing with the same verve.

While I was savouring the concert, I was beginning to write this review in my mind and the only thing I did not want to miss from highlighting here was his humility! That paired with the joy he found in his singing were the most appealing treats I could find in a true artist and which could recommend the profession to anyonel.

In the lyrics of 'Youth', Dave says ‘I'll make you fly /You'll be happy all the time’ – that night, he did and we were.