While heavy weather battered much of the UK, the conditions in Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom were defiantly tropical. Dance producer Bruce Fielder, AKA one-man party-starter Sigala, kicked off his 2020 world tour in Scotland to a crowd of youngsters in beach shorts, bumbags and skimpy fluorescent club wear, a boisterous fanbase determined to rave despite the squall outside.
The Norwich-born 28-year-old was not entirely invulnerable to the effects of Storm Ciara – one of his support DJs was grounded in London, missing the first of two sold-out nights here – but the overall vibe was one of carefree hedonism, in keeping with Sigala’s buoyant, blue-sky records. In 2015, his debut single Easy Love, a track cultivated from an atypical sample from the Jackson Five’s ABC, unexpectedly reached the top of the UK charts. There has been a steady stream of radio hits since, including collaborations with Kylie, Craig David and Ella Eyre.
From a rig atop a mirrored pyramid dais, his encouraging hand gestures and heart signs occasionally silhouetted against a gigantic, eye-searing screen, Sigala oversaw a turbo-charged parade of echoey club builds and skull-rattling breakdowns. Live, some tracks acquired a slightly harder edge – the clattering breakbeats of Say You Do were foregrounded, occluding its rather soppy big-ballad sentiments – but the energy levels rarely dipped. It helped that the slightly marooned star was assisted by a bumptious hype man stoking the crowd, occasional plumes of indoor fireworks and a cadre of five singers rotating to provide guest vocals as required.
An extended section stitched together from incongruous needle drops – from Nirvana and House of Pain to a blast of hometown hero Lewis Capaldi – pushed things into novelty megamix territory. That Crackerjack roadshow feel extended to an impromptu giveaway of Sigala-branded flags that looked suspiciously like beach towels. It may have been cheesy, but Sigala crammed a lot of entertainment into this 90-minute show, and left the crowd with a trace of social commentary: the triumphant Just Got Paid, a celebratory anti-austerity anthem that wears its daffy cash register “ding” with pride.
• At the Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, to 10 February, then touring.
