I want to start this review off by saying Glass Animals are a real one for not gauging their ticket prices following the crazy success of Heatwaves on TikTok; they could’ve easily raised the prices but £20 for a ticket and CD is so reasonable these days I almost thought it was a joke. I also want to say thank you to the security guard at the venue who passed out fruit pastille sweets - you have nothing to do with Glass Animals but this did make the waiting time for them to come on stage considerably more enjoyable.
Following off the back of their last album comes a brand new album I Love You So F***ing Much. To celebrate the release the band announced a series of intimate launch parties around the UK to play the new album in full (minus track 6 which I am so intrigued by…). I had the privilege of attending the very first one in Leeds and it did feel special to be some of the very first people to hear the tracks.
Dave took his shoes off at one point to give the atmosphere a 'cozy bedroom vibe' and it fit the album songs perfectly. Having been a long term fan it was amazing to see a band hone their sound so perfectly that every new album feels like an extension of the one before; you could feel the influence of Zaba, How To Be A Human Being & Dreamland but the album still sounded fresh and new.
When they came on stage there was no messing about and we went straight into track 1. I don’t want to spoil too much before the album comes out (and have kept videos of the new songs to myself) but I want to preemptively say this might be one of their best. I am a long-time Zaba connoisseur but this new album felt like such a relief. In a time where a lot of music is being made for trends it was refreshing to hear a band do what they’ve always done and not cave into doing what everyone else is doing.
They’ve already released 'Creatures in Heaven' and 'A Tear in Space' on streaming platforms but it was still incredible to hear them for the first time in person. I will say that of all the new stuff track 4 – 'Wonderful Nothing' – was my personal favourite. It reminded me so much of Zaba, it brought me back to the summer of 2015 where all I listened to was 'Hazey' and 'Toes' on repeat for four months.
Speaking of Zaba, at the end of the show, after nine exceptional songs, they decided to take requests and even cared enough about the fans to not do a fake out – going offstage and coming back for an encore – in order to give us three songs. We got a performance of 'Pork Soda', 'Gooey' and 'Heatwaves – they were just as enthusiastic and excited to play these as the new songs.
I’ve never seen Glass Animals before this experience and boy am I desperate to go back and will be attending their upcoming tour later this year. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to and I’m so excited for the album to be released on July 19th. If there’s one thing Glass Animals know how to do, it’s put on a show.
WORDS EMILIE GIBSON
PROOFREADING BEATRIZ GOMES
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