Live Review: Calum Scott / Mitch James – 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin 30.09.2022

On Friday, the 30th of September, English singer songwriter Calum Scott took to the stage of Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre, for what he described as “one of his favourite shows ever” as part of his ‘Bridges’ world tour, celebrating his 2022 album of the same name.

The night kicked off with support from New Zealander singer songwriter Mitch James, appearing on stage in a Dublin GAA jersey, telling the crowd not to be fooled.

He played a set along with his guitarist, mainly made up of originals, before breaking into Kodaline’s ‘All I Want’, due to him being in Dublin for the first time, a fact that made his parents so proud that they flew over for the show.

Having not heard much of James’ music before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was definitely impressed, as I’m sure most of those in attendance were. A personal favourite of mine from his set was ‘Bright Blue Skies’.

At 9pm, following an introduction of him talking about creating the album, and what music means to him, Calum Scott took to the stage to his song ‘Rise’. The crowd were hooked, but due to the concert being a seated one, to which I’m still unsure of the reasoning, they seemed rather introverted and held back any dancing that may have pursued if it was a standing show.

Scott then played ‘I’ll Be There’ and ‘Cross Your Mind’ before coming to the part he titled ‘Crying corner’, a part of the show where he said “I know most of you will cry to at least one of these songs”, my personal favourite from this segment was ‘Boys In The Street’, a song, originally by Greg Holden but now on Scott’s album, about an unsupportive father looking down on his son’s sexuality. Looking around the venue, you could see how much this song meant to people. As I looked around, I saw tears galore, both in the crowd, and Calum onstage.

After singing ‘Bridges’, the Hull singer was clearly emotional, and got a hug from a bandmate, as he explained how much that song meant to him, as it’s about a moment in his life he was unsure whether or not he’d make it through.

He then introduced the next song by speaking of his past, the time he was in a Maroon 5 cover band, or Maroon 4 as they called it due to the lack of a band member. He said he thought of himself as Adam Levine, before adding “minus the creepy DMs”, referring to the recent Levine controversy. He then sang Maroon 5’s ‘This Love’, which eventually got people standing up from their seats and singing along.

This energy was continued as he played ‘Where Are You Now’, his feature track with Belgian DJ Lost Frequencies.

The crowd erupted when Scott began singing ‘You Are the Reason’, a song which has now amassed over 700 million streams on Spotify. He, once again, was very emotional onstage looking at this Irish crowd.
“I played this venue as a support act in 2016” he said, reminiscing on his days supporting American cover band Boyce Avenue. “I remember thinking that day ‘imagine headlining this place’ and here I am now”.
He played two more songs, before “finishing the show”, a line in which even he made quotation marks onstage, hinting that an encore was to come.’

After a series of ‘Olé Olé Olé Olé’’s, a standard when it comes to Irish concerts, Calum Scott came onstage for one more song, ‘Dancing on My Own’, the Robyn song that made him, back in 2015 when he auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent. It was such a beautiful moment, with everyone in attendance singing along, some pride flags were waving, and several fans were crying.

Overall, I really enjoyed this concert and was massively impressed by Scott’s vocals. He ensured the crowd that he will be back to Dublin, “especially after what I’ve seen tonight”. I, for one, will definitely be hoping to get to his return, and I’d recommend seeing him as well, when the chance arises.

‘Bridges’, the sophomore album from Calum Scott is available to stream here.