Calum Bowie, Glasgow review: 'emotional'
This was a big night for 24-year-old singer-songwriter Calum Bowie, yet there’s still a sense he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet, writes David Pollock
Calum Bowie, Barrowland, Glasgow ★★★★
“This has been the best night of my life,” said TikTok-famous young Scottish singer-songwriter Calum Bowie at the end of his headline full-band concert in the Barrowlands on Friday night. It was a theme he’d returned to throughout the evening, between marvelling at the size of the crowd and thanking everyone in the hall – and all of his friends, family and probably everyone he’d ever met – for leading him to this moment.
In truth, it felt like the 24-year-old Aberdonian émigré, now resident in Edinburgh, hasn’t quite reached his ceiling yet. This was the set of an emerging musician, barely 80 minutes in length and not quite at the level where his songs are known beyond the substantial contingent of diehards in the room with him.
Yet what felt really special about this night was that all of this seemed possible for his future. His songs are catchily melodic and lyrically very personal, with some gorgeous, evocative wordplay and emotional precision at play. “When the right song comes at the right time it becomes your anthem,” he sang on Anthem, a mission statement which the music lived up to.
Take Me Home was a vividly emotional song of homecoming, one part post-Faces Rod Stewart and one part Dougie MacLean, and Sliding Doors is a song of missed chances and decisions not made which had Bowie’s hand on his heart and his arms spread wide in triumph during its instrumental outro. Listen to Your City was lively and misty-eyed romantic, inspiring cheerful “yee-ha”s from the crowd, and the bagpipe-aided Dream of My Own struck a gorgeous note in celebrating artistic ambition through hard work and emotional honesty.
The one low, if it can be called that, was his choice to forego his usual cover of Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe! for Wheatus's much more ordinary Teenage Dirtbag. He has more than enough catchy choruses of his own, but married to a depth of songwriting potential which could make him the Caledonian Sam Fender.
The Scotsman’s arts newsletter is now sent twice a week - subscribe today
Want the latest Scottish headlines sent directly to your phone? Sign up to our new WhatsApp channel here.