BY IAN ASPINALL

I am among the group of people that have only recently heard of Dylan Gossett. There is however a horde of younger country and Americana fans who consume music very differently, and much like the meteoric rise of artists like Zach Bryan, Dylan owes a lot of his success to Tik Tok and the wide use of his song ‘Coal’.

Therefore there was much hype about any live shows and the tickets for the only UK show announced at the time sold out very quickly and were the hot ticket amongst the younger generation of fans. In my true style I managed to snag one last minute and went along to see what the hype was all about. I have heard ‘Coal’ on Tik Tok a lot, and have therefore listened to some of his other recorded music, but I am not the most familiar. 

The venue choice was interesting in my opinion. The hype and evident desire for tickets means choosing the Tabernacle, a 19th century brick former church that is now a community arts centre, seemed an odd choice. Despite the tickets selling fast the promoter resisted the urge to do what a lot have recently, and upgrade to a bigger venue which gave Dylan’s first UK (first European even) show and first headline show a really intimate feeling (the venue holds 499 people in the configuration used).

Calum Bowie, a young Scottish singer-songwriter was supporting and he is very much the same style of act as Dylan. The beginning of his set was marred slightly by technical difficulties but he battled through them with the confidence of a performer who has had that happen before. Once those were sorted he performed a half hour set including a song that has just been released and this was the debut live performance: “We are the River’. He finished his set with the rousing ‘Dancing in the Sun’, one his songs that helped him garner Tik Tok fame. 

Dylan was greeted to a big round of applause and cheers. He revealed that it was not only his first time in London, it was his first time in Europe and first headline show. The show itself was marred by a couple of technical issues at the very beginning, mostly for his guitarist and only accompaniment, his brother, Blake Grossett.

He opened with ‘To Be Free’ which was very popular among the crowd. He followed up with ‘Lone Ole Cowboy’ which again was a crowd favourite. He’s a good storyteller and the audience were lapping up the songs with enthusiasm. With one exception, it was really pleasant to see and hear an audience so engaged with the artist. There was almost no unnecessary chat and only the occasional out of place “we love you Dylan”. 

He followed up with ‘If I had a Dollar’, then the title track of his EP released in 2023, ‘No Better Time’, and added some harmonica playing. ‘Flip A Coin’ from the same EP followed. The original recording is limited instrumentation and relies on Dylan’s voice, and the live version was the same. A couple of misplaced cheers and shouts from the crowd almost overshadowed this very bare and emotional performance of a beautiful song, but it wasn’t and I absolutely loved the song and performance of it. 

He then sang a song that is coming out late March and I did not catch the name of, although it reminds me of ‘Then Came Somewhere Between’, released March 1st, about someone who lived on a train. It’s a good upbeat song about freedom and I think will do well. His current release at the time was next: ‘Bitter Winds’. It’s about that job that isn’t that good, but the people make it – something I’m sure a lot of us can relate to. 

Next, and his penultimate song is one of his bigger tunes with Tik Tok and the listening public, ‘Beneath Oak Trees’. Written about his wife and their wedding, it happened to be his 1st wedding anniversary a couple of days before the show so was a very fitting song to play at the time. 

Inevitably the show was finished with ‘Coal’, the song that really put Dylan on the musical map. Through a see of phone screens and a crowd chorus singing every word he blew the crowd away. I daresay there were some tears shed during that performance – it really was brilliant. 

I suspect a bit of a nod to his American audiences and the fact he still has a limited catalogue he sang Country Roads as the encore, which of course had the whole crowd singing once again.

All in all, it was an excellent show and in a very intimate setting. I really think Dylan will make something  of a name for himself and we will see him gracing bigger stages so I’m very happy I made it to that show. He announces a UK tour in June on Monday March 4th, so watch this space