O2 Academy played host to the emerging talent that is Lola Young. Originally booked for December at The Garage, it wasn’t long until her profile and a month long No.1 single (the longest stint for a British female artist since Adele – according to official charts.com), shifted the scales on ticket sales and was rescheduled by promoter DF to accommodate Lola’s growing popularity and fierce fanbase.
Her audience was a broad mix of all walks; from dads and daughters, LGBTQ+, and looking round the packed auditorium, there was an age range of eighteen to sixty. This is and has always been the legendary Glasgow crowd – a mixed bag. An artist will learn quickly how much they are revered in front of a mass of Glaswegians.
Kitted with a four-piece band, she still kept it casual. That quiet brilliance that comes from knowing your craft and your music. Lola was powerful and natural in her delivery of each song; from ‘Good Books’ to ‘Conceited’, and even into the encore – the vibes were immaculate.
Lola’s interaction with the crowd was low key and self-deprecating at times; further confirming her modest and unassuming talent. She commented on her time touring, fast showers, and the hat hair she kept firmly hidden under a patchwork denim cap. For much of the time, the crowd belted out her lyrics to her and the band, flooding the venue with intermittent colossal acapellas. She shared with us her love of the city of Glasgow and how she would opt to live here one day, and slipped in a mention of her forthcoming album. The audience ripped into a frenzy of joy to cheer and congratulate her – an RSVP to see her again.
This aging millennial pined for an artist with this energy and sentiment back in the day. The noughties were unforgiving at times with their drive for body shaming, hyper-normalised lad culture and misogyny, and the will to crack down on emerging subcultures and scenes (doesn’t sound like it ever changes!). There is a massive shift every ten years, where we see young people dismantling the status-quo to make way for something new, and Lola is one of them.
Lola Young, live in concert, is a different experience. Even I didn’t anticipate the magnitude of her live performance. Her voice was bigger and brighter than ever, and she shared her stage with the musicians who offered weight and greater depth to her songs. At times she would step back and let the music take over to shape the sound. The band delivered large sweeping instrumental interludes that carried songs like ‘Conceited’ and ‘Wish You Dead’ to new heights, gifting the audience with a different experience of her songs. The twenty-four year old is a true artist (and a Capricorn btw – ambitious and determined) and she’s only getting started.
The connection Lola has created with her music and listeners is based on her unflinching realism – everything from the digital dating scene to fleeting interactions, to navigating the world with neurodivergent idiosyncrasies. There’s also a nostalgia to her music which reaches people and ignites them. She finished with an encore, the most anticipated song of the night – ‘Messy’. The O2 rabble sang every lyric in synchronicity, inducing Lola to giggle between soaring notes, heightening the moment and affirming that she is well on her way to being one of the best lyricists of our time.
For more news of Lola Young and up-coming events, see lola-young.com or follow her on Instagram.
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