Dylan John Thomas with support from Murdo Mitchell

at Arts Club, Liverpool

26/11/2022

It’s a mild Saturday evening in Liverpool and I’m making my way to see one of Scotland’s newest rising stars, ‘Dylan John Thomas’ at Liverpool 02 Arts Club Loft on the 6th date of his sold-out UK tour.

Hailing from Glasgow and growing up in a foster home, Dylan says he used music as a way to escape, and escape he did! Now entering the big leagues, Dylan has been personally mentored by the likes of Sam Fender and Gerry Cinnamon. Starting out busking on the streets of Glasgow, Dylan honed his craft so perfectly that within a few years he has played the main stage at ‘Transmit festival‘, Supported Gerry Cinnamon on tour in 2018 and supported Noel Gallagher and his band, High Flying Birds, at Dundee Summer Sessions in June this year.

Most recently, on the 5th of November Dylan was at the ‘Scottish Music Awards’ to receive the Dean Banks & Mond Vodka Breakthrough Artist Award, where he performed his songs, “Fever” and “What I Need“. He follows in the footsteps of previous winners of the award, who have included Lewis Capaldi, Paolo Nutini, and The Snuts.

The queue outside the venue is a mixed bunch, although mostly teens and couples it seems his audience is a diverse bunch and shows that Dylan’s music appeals to a wide audience.

The venue fills up quickly and man, are these guys happy to be here!  The crowd all sing along loudly to the PA music playing such hits as “Can’t Take My Eyes off You” and “Hay Baby” by DJ Otzi while they wait for the show to start.

(Murdo Mitchell_Credit Billy Vitch)

The show kicks off with fellow Glaswegian Murdo Mitchell, who is doing his own UK tour next year with dates in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds and more.

The crowd love him, and honestly, you’d think it was his own headline show from the audience’s reaction as he ploughs through his set of acoustic songs, including “Ghosts”, “Hollow”, and “Lies”. Lies being a firm favourite of mine, it has a real up-tempo beat that he plays himself on a foot pedal. Definitely, one to watch! 

We have a short interval before we get the main man and his band who enter the stage to Dario G’s “Carnival De Paris” which was the Official Song of the 1998 Fifa World Cup. Giving the crowd a warm welcome, you can see Dylan is buzzing to be here, as are the audience. He kicks his set off with one of his best-known songs, the jumpy and high-energy song “Jenna” and you really get the feeling that this song will become one of his trademark songs in the months and years to come. It’s a fast-paced set as he masterfully gives us a beautiful rendition of his next song ‘Problems” and then an amazing cover of the Artic Monkeys hit song “Do I Wanna Know?”

Next up we get, When I Get Home, If I Didn’t Laugh, Wake Up Ma and Someday, a cover of The Strokes song.

(Dylan John Thomas_Credit Billy Vitch)

I feel that Dylan really knows how to command a stage and interact with the audience, the band are extremely tight and it’s magical to see the interaction between them, Dylan was made for this! Between songs, the crowd sing loudly “Oh Dylan John Thomas”, in a football chat style and it’s plain to see they absolutely love him.

As the set continues Dylan treats us to some firm favourites like “Feel the Fire, Now and Then, Fever and another fantastic cover, this time “Hey Good Lookin” by (Hank Williams.

As the night draws to the end Dylan masterfully plays each song and smiles throughout. One thing that really stands out to me is his songwriting ability and guitar skills. His songs are very relatable and there isn’t a single song in his entire set that I didn’t relate to on some emotional level.

(Dylan John Thomas_Credit Billy Vitch)

It’s plain to see why Dylan is set to become the next big thing to come out of Scotland and follow in the footsteps of some of Scotland’s biggest stars like Lewis Capaldi and Gerry Cinnamon and honestly, right now, I’m buzzing that I got to see him in such an intimate environment as I can only imagine in the coming years it’s going to be arenas and stadiums for this young man.

Review and photography by NSG’s Billy Vitch

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