Dayglow @ House of Blues, Dallas, TX

Words and photos by Scott Rowe

There were a handful of firsts at last night's Dayglow show at the House of Blues in Dallas, many of which had nothing to do with the performance. If you didn't know, this was the opening night of the Harmony House Tour, coinciding with the 2021 release of the same namesake, ahem, Harmony House. Secondly, this was my first show back at the House of Blues since the start of the pandemic circa March 2020. Thirdly, yes, thirdly, this is the first time I've seen patrons removed from the House of Blues for sharing an alcoholic drink with their under-21 friends. The best part is when the girl who bought the drinks was being escorted out and she took off into the GA crowd, escaping her captors; I honestly don't know if they found her. Fourthly, it's the first time I've seen a dad at a show run to a trash bin and vomit. Well done, sir. And lastly, this is the first time I've had the pleasure of seeing Sloan Struble, aka the mastermind behind Dayglow, grace the stage, well, because I didn't know who he was pre-pandemic and this is honestly the first time it's been an option. Again, many firsts.

As you would expect with any up and coming artist, the production of Dayglow's performance was minimal but was everything they needed and more. A lighted outline of the word 'DAYGLOW' sat behind the band, with what looked like Pac-Man sitting in for the 'G'. Raised instruments and a mix of lights completed a minimalist production, but outside of someone like me who was paying attention to that sort of thing, the band could have been playing in front of the House of Blues and they would have had a great time.

And when the band finally took the stage, that's the one thing that immediately stuck out to me: they are having fun onstage. And when a band is having fun, everyone has fun. The pressure is off, nothing is forced, and the music flows freely. Kicking the set off with "Something", the band found their footing and almost felt like a warmup for things to come. That came when the band swung into "Medicine", which caused a venue-wide dance party and singalong. Sloan took charge of the stage, frantically dancing from side to side, only stopping to make eye contact with the entire audience and purposely singing to each and every one of them. The crowd went wild when he strapped on his guitar for the mini guitar solo, but a fun moment nonetheless.

The moment wasn't too big for Sloan, as he recently played in front of thousands at Lollapalooza, but the gravity of performing at your sold out show must mean a bit more. He was casual with the audience sharing stories of the House of Blues and having his family in attendance, something most artists take pride in and Sloan seemed to enjoy the proximity. He was also very appreciative of everyone who worked on his tour, from his bandmates to the sound guy and beyond. You felt his humility when he spoke and, like mentioned before, was enjoying the time onstage.

He took some time to back off from the front of the stage, sitting behind a piano to perform a handful of songs. While you might think that Dayglow is all about catchy songs and uptempo beats, Sloan shows that he isn't a one-trick pony, performing songs that show off his acoustic guitar licks and songwriting skill. But just when you feel like things have calmed down, he'll throw a "Can I Call You Tonight?" into the mix and cause an uproar. The whole HOB main hall was bouncing along, singing to every word. It's something I was looking forward to after following his music during the pandemic. To keep the party going, he finished the set with "Close to You", the first single from Harmony House. A hoot and a holler later, the band reemerged for an encore and jumped into a cover of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". It was a respectable cover, a song that most in the crowd knew some of the words but danced as if they knew all of the lyrics. The end of the encore saw Dayglow performing "Run the World!!!", a fantastic song to end the evening with, having just as many people bouncing and singing as "Can I Call..." did. While ending an encore with your most recognizable song is predictable, performing it during a set and finding another song with just as much umph and energy is admirable. Overall, it was not only a great performance, but it was tons of fun.

Photos of the show are below: