As he recalls from tonight’s stage, the first time London rapper Dave played in Glasgow he was a teenager, and there were 350 people in the audience. Now 27, he has enough hits to fill arenas, and the charisma to both thrill and move each one of the thousands here.
His first UK tour in four years is in support of last year’s album The Boy Who Played the Harp, on which he perfected the technical skill and introspective complexity that he’s known for. The show starts with two tracks from the album: for History, handwritten lyrics are projected on screen as Dave weaves between his band on the diamond-shaped stage; for No Weapons, his deft flow is complemented by widescreen, organic drum fills. These lush, open arrangements darken and tighten for 2021 single Verdansk, its deep bassline throbbing in time with blasts of pyrotechnics. We’re transported to the club for bouncy early cuts Thiago Silva and Funky Friday, before Both Sides of a Smile invokes the bombast of a 90s rock show, with Dave playing an elevated grand piano surrounded by dry ice.
The production is impressive, expanding and contracting with the show’s narrative. For the more brash tracks, guest stars such as Stormzy and Central Cee hover over the audience as projections on 10 giant screens. For Selfish (“one of the most personal tracks on this album”) Dave brings us back to human scale, sitting on the edge of the stage with electric guitar in hand; an effectively confessional mood for such a raw song about self-doubt and self-sabotage.
Tonight’s show might have the scale of big US rap tours that have come through this venue – Tyler, Kendrick – but Dave manages to hold on to a genuine intimacy and connection in this bombastic context. Towards the end of the set, his uncomplicated performance of The Boy Who Played the Harp’s title track makes elegant connections between personal and sociopolitical trauma – a hugely moving moment, followed by Dave shouting along to Tems’ chorus on Raindance as enthusiastically as an audience member. It’s a marvel to watch him move between playfulness and gravitas with such ease.
• Dave plays the O2 Arena, London, 6-11 March; then touring
