To say I'm excited about tonight is an absolute understatement. I have been waiting to see Mr. Smith for over eighteen months. In that time Sam Smith has had a meteoric rise to fame, selling 3 million copies of his debut album 'In the Lonely Hour' and winning countless awards here and Stateside in the US of A. Becoming a sure fire hit in the States, his album going straight in to the Billboard charts at No 2. Sam Smith is moving on up and will surely be Britain's biggest export to the States.
With Sam Smith, he's like Marmite, you either love him or you hate him. It seems everyone loves him and if all the awards he's won is anything to judge him by he's going to have a long and illustrious career. Performing at the 57th Grammy awards in February this year, and winning awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album, even winning an accolade at this year's BRIT Awards at the O2 Arena for Best British Breakthrough Act, his current success ceases to amaze me, he is on one big rollercoaster ride and let's hope he never gets off.
It's hard to believe that Sam Smith is only 22, likened in numerous reviews and interviews as the biggest musical export and male version of Adele, I've seen Adele live and she was absolutely epic, the show I saw is in my top five of all time shows I've ever seen, it even made me cry that's how good it was. I'm hoping Mr Smith can match up to the task, I'm sure he won't let me down.
Flavour of the month Smith has kept Madonna off her 12th album number one spot and that's a feat in itself. Currently in the spotlight with the Comic Relief song for 2015 with John Legend and touring his latest offering of multi-platinum album 'In the Lonely Hour' around the UK.
Smith came on stage at 9 and bared his heart and soul to the 3,000 strong audience who lingered on every single word and every single note. He came on stage to so much screaming it blew my mind.
It is the one and only gig in the ten years I've been doing this job, that the audience have been so attentive to the artist and have song their hearts out to every song and paid attention to what the artist has had to say.
The show was a storybook of how Smith composed the songs and where the original ideas came from, he was genuine, down to earth and such a lovely guy, I wanted to adopt him as a younger brother, he really struck a heart string with me.
Smith seemed to just want to please all the fans that had come out to see him tonight and pack the rafters in the sweatbox which was the Civic Hall.
It was joyous and at times I was thinking he could pack out the Barclaycard Arena anytime especially after all the accolades he's received of late.
Tickets had been changing hands for, minimum, £200 a pair, I did hear the lady sitting behind us say she had paid £130 each for her tickets, I know all the tour sold out in minutes, so we were lucky to even get through the door tonight, we were in prime position on the balcony, and thank goodness too, as downstairs in the standing area it was like a proverbial sardine can, they all looked uncomfortable and it is the most people I have ever seen crammed in to the Civic Hall.
A 70 minute set of Smith swooning and telling a story for each hit, the thing that struck a chord with me was he said he didn't care about all the awards he's won, he just loved singing on stage and pleasing the audience, and boy god he did that tonight. Looking sharp in a suit and shirt and losing a few pounds, at the end of the day he has a voice like an angel so does it really matter what he looks like?
The set was peppered with all the hits from 'In the Lonely Hour', Just twelve songs, but it was worth every penny of the ticket price and more.
Set List tonight was: 'Together', 'Leave Your Lover', 'I'm Not the Only One', 'I Can', 'Good Thing', Smith's current number one single 'Lay Me Down'. 'My Funny Valentine', followed by a sing-along 'La La La' and 'Money on My Mind'. Encore tracks 'Latch', 'Make It To Me' and 'Stay With Me' really I would not have missed this gig for the world and I am now looking forward to seeing Mr Smith at V Festival in August.
I left the gig like a grinning Cheshire cat, I couldn't get 'Money On My Mind' out of my head and it's still in there this morning.
Sam Smith is a legend and he will be here in years to come, fingers crossed it's not too long before I see him again.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.