It is going to be hard for me to ever find a country gig that boasted as much passion, fun and energy as the Glasgow crowd got from Chase Matthew and Tayler Holder on Tuesday night. This tour is one for the core memories.
If there is one benefit to being a country fan in the UK, it is that we are still lucky enough to catch the artists in smaller, intimate venues. When Chase Matthew announced he would be headlining the iconic King Tuts in Glasgow, it instantly went on the calendar.
With a strong support addition of Tayler Holder, the venue was jam-packed from the get-go. Tayler Holder is an artist I have been following for a while, with tracks such as Dyin Flame and Time in This Truck which the audience ATE UP. It was an incredibly wholesome set with Tayler admitting “he’s never been to Europe and is currently making history – ready to give the best show he can.” It’s not just Holder who has insane talent, he introduced his guitarist who is the INSANE Sevy, this is an artist I have been listening to for a while (check out Don’t Give Me Hope – it’s on constant repeat) – Sevy covered Teddy Swims Lose Control, and you could hear a pin drop. The vocals on that man are insane, and what a way to kick off a show.
One support act and the venue is buzzing, Chase Matthew had some big shoes to fill – AND THAT HE DID.
It is just over 2 weeks since his third studio album, CHASE, was released and what I was interested to see with this album is how it would translate on stage. The album has elements of love, about his hometown, friendships and of course – trucks. My favourite Matthew record to date.
Bursting on the stage with DRIVES MY TRUCK which I can only describe as, the kind of song, which makes me want to kick a door clean off its hinges. The crowd was jumping from the get-go, and considering this song came out on a pre-release only in January – the amount of people who were screaming the lyrics back – was incredible.
“I’m so grateful to be here making a good impression – I started with a $200 laptop doing Justin Bieber covers in my spare time of being an AGV Mechanic.” – Chase took the time to chat with the crowd, make jokes and deliver tracks the audience wants to hear – even breaking his guitar during We Had It Good, but the show goes on!
It’s hard to believe that Chase’s debut album only landed 3 years ago and fans have already been treated to a size of discography you would expect from an artist over a decade, there’s so much you want to be crammed into a show, but we saw a great mix of tracks from all 3 records and we were treated to a range of Backroads, Always Be Mine, Everything He Couldn’t, Born For This and one of my favourites, County Lines. An immense variety of both older and newer songs, that the audience chanted along with every word.
Another artist keen to show off how impressive and talented their band is, Chase made the switch over to the drums whilst his bassist, Karson Richards, took centre stage to sing Beer Never Broke My Heart, we’re almost at the end of the show here and the energy has not dipped once (which can be said about how warm the venue is – got to love King Tuts!)
“I feel so at home up here, I recently discovered I have some Scottish family who stayed in Greenock back in 1708” – country music is HOME, and we will have Chase Matthew and his band back anytime!
This was one of those concerts where you didn’t know what to expect from start to finish but it was an evening of top-quality country music, energy and artists that have made the trip over the pond to bring the brilliance of Nashville to our small UK venues and we couldn’t be more grateful.
I cannot stress enough; that Tayler Holder and Chase Matthews deliver a show you will kick yourself if you miss it. It is wholesome, its country and it is cemented in my mind as one of the best country gigs, I have attended. There’s still a few UK dates left, and Tayler will be performing at C2C London next weekend. Do not miss out.
Review by Lauren Page
