Lucy Dacus, Glasgow review: 'screams and sing-alongs'

The Barrowland audience make it clear how much the songs of Lucy Dacus mean to them, writes Fiona Shepherd

Lucy Dacus, Barrowland, Glasgow ★★★★

Fragrant indie folk singer/songwriters are more usually greeted with rapt attention, nodding heads and polite applause but Virginia-raised, Los Angeles-based musician Lucy Dacus and her band attracted screams and sing-alongs at this Barrowland show from an audience making it clear how much her songs have meant to them.

In recent years, her already healthy solo career has been bolstered by her membership of Grammy-winning indie power trio Boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker but this set was mainly about her new album, Forever Is a Feeling, with every track represented across a 90-minute set, from the mellow country pop of Best Guess and burnished Americana of Most Wanted Man to the big drums, dynamic drops and harmony vocals of Talk.

​Lucy Dacus – sweet vocal tones (Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Dacus promenaded casually along the front of the stage – her modest way of meeting her excited public – but quieted the room for Limerence, a pretty piano ballad with fiddle flourishes which foregrounded her sweet vocal tones.

The fans whooped along to choppy ditty I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore and the surging sound of grungey indie rocker First Time, while Dacus blended aggressive sentiments with gentle yearning on Come Out, one of a number of pre-requested songs in the set along with an acoustic campfire rendition of Christine, a luscious Lana Del Rey ballad of queer longing.

Dacus admitted to feeling “weirdly nervous” about her debut in this globally renowned venue and appeared outright starstruck by her special guest, Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch, who comfortably relayed the deft, droll storytelling style of Bullseye.

Dacus was also treated to another Glasgow cultural mainstay, the “here we f***in go” chant which heralded her return to the stage to play her one Boygenius selection, the smooth, expansive MOR of True Blue.