On Thursday, November 6th, Calum Scott played a show at the Barclays Arena in Hamburg as part of The Avenoir Tour. The last time he did a headline show in this city was in July of 2023 at the Docks, so it’s been over two years since he last visited this harbour city. For this show, the floor area had been turned into seating instead of standing to better fit the vibe of Scott’s concert.
Each night on this tour, Scott has had a local support opening the night. For this show, the local support act was singer Hanna Rautzenberg, accompanied by her guitarist Simon Schneid. Rautzenberg had never played in an arena before, but this wasn’t noticeable at all. She easily charmed the crowd with her storytelling songs, and they responded well to every single track she played. During one of them, the audience even lit up the room with their flashlights.
Next up was the second support act of the night, Lusaint, who performed together with her guitarist, Bjorn Woodhall. The crowd welcomed her to the stage with loud clapping, which got picked up again multiple times throughout her set. Besides performing original music, she also played a cover of ‘Crazy’ by CeeLo Green. At the end of her set, Lusaint thanked the crowd for their attention.
Not much later, it was finally time for Calum Scott’s own set. Joining him on stage as part of his band were cellist Alex Marshall, drummer George Cook, bassist Leighton Allen, guitarist Liam McGarry, multi-instrumentalist Mitch Parks, and, finally, Andy Yeates on the keys. The band entered the stage before Scott did, joining them as the lights dimmed. Scott was already smiling widely right at the start of his set, opening the show with ‘Avenoir’, the title track of his latest album. Cheers erupted towards the end of the fourth song, which became even louder as he greeted the crowd by saying “moin”, a greeting often used in northern Germany. He continued by playing ‘No Matter What’. Scott then talked about the following section of his set being called “the crying corner”. For this section, Scott sat down on a chair as a big curtain hung from the ceiling around him, Marshall, Parks, and Yeates. Around them, a bunch of candles had been placed on the ground. Scott spoke about how he wants to make a difference, to bring “light back into the world”. Scott also mentioned that he wants people to feel “seen, loved, represented and valued”. He wants to make them feel important. He mentioned people message him saying that ‘No Matter What’ changed their lives. His mom was also at the show tonight, which he expressed made this section even more special on this night. “I love you, mom, he said.
Before playing the song ‘Gone’, Scott spoke about the fragility of life and to show people in your life more love. Fans sat down in their seats during this track, which gave it a rather intimate feeling. The following song, called ‘Mad’, is one he wrote his future kid as a promise. He talked about really wanting to become a dad and make his child(ren) feel loved. Continuing on a very different note, Scott stated that before releasing his most recent album, Avenoir, he didn’t dare to write a song in the country genre. With this album, however, he did, and the song ‘One More Drink’ was born. Originally a duet with Lauren Alaina, tonight Scott sang it together with Alexandra Marshall. Earlier in his set, he also sang Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, accompanied by her very own voice. He also released that version of the song on September 11th.
Moving on, Scott stated that he recognized that part of his job as a singer is “to hopefully write songs that are gonna stand the test of time”. Examples of such songs, according to the man himself, are ‘You Are the Reason’ from Only Human, ‘Biblical’ from Bridges, and ‘Die For You’ from Avenoir, which he then performed. Scott motioned for the crowd to turn on their phone lights as he sang this song. Before moving on to the next song, the aforementioned ‘You Are the Reason’, Scott asked in German: “Seid ihr bereit für das nächste Lied”’ (transl.: are you ready for the next song?).
The set, and with that the whole show, finished with the song ‘Dancing On My Own’. Beforehand, he mentioned that this song changed his life. He used to work in a supermarket and was only able to “dream of moments like this”, referring to standing on stage in an arena playing his own songs. He also expressed his gratitude to the support acts of the evening, Hanna Rautzenberg and Lusaint, as well as to the fans. Scott assured the fans he will be coming to play in Hamburg again!
