After a hiatus of almost two years, and the addition of a new guitarist to the group, the Californian four-piece, Lifehouse, returned to Glasgow last week for the first time in over four years. The Scottish audience seemed to have missed them dearly, with the O2 ABC being fit to burst before the support act, Raglans, even began their warm-up set.
When Lifehouse took over the stage half an hour later, they kicked off their show with ‘Hurricane’, a great alternative rock anthem and the first single released from their seventh studio album, Out of the Wasteland. But it was the first chords of the hit single ‘Half Way Gone’ that blew the audience away and got them up dancing, so much so that the security guards had to hand out cups of water to the sweat-filled front rows.
Determined to keep the crowd on their toes, the boys then took a step back; slowing the tempo and continuing with a short acoustic set. Their performances of ‘From Where You Are’ and a medley of ‘H2O’, ‘Yesterday’s Son’ and ‘Firing Squad’ created a relaxed atmosphere within the crowd, who slowly swayed along to the music and hung on lead singer, Jason Wade’s, every word.
After this acoustic set was over, Wade took to the stage on his own, in order to give a moving solo-performance of an old favourite, ‘Everything’. This proved to be a magical moment and undoubtedly the highlight of the entire night, complimented by the glittering lights from the giant silver disco ball on the ceiling. And that’s not all – just when fans thought the moment couldn’t get any better, the other band members returned to the stage and the beautiful, slow ballad was transformed into an energetic, up-tempo number which got the crowd going once again. The band ended their show with ‘Flight’, another song from their latest album, and their final song and biggest hit to date, ‘Hanging By A Moment’, was welcomed by loud screams from the crowd.
From beginning to end, the boys interacted with the crowd – telling them stories, taking photos and even claiming to recognise a few familiar faces among the 1,500 people present – and worked hard to show them that their support did not go unnoticed. The fans of Lifehouse had waited years for this night to come, and judging by the enthusiastic cheers which continued long after the band had exited the stage, it was well worth the wait. Here’s hoping that they won’t have to wait so long for the next tour!
