Show comes alive as Smith bares his soul
Sam Smith O2 Arena, London
It takes a certain amount of confidence to open an arena gig in front of 20,000 people with a frazzled piano ballad about taking up smoking after a failed relationship.
It is hard to think of song more laden with bleakness and self-loathing than Burning. Let Me Entertain You it ain’t. But, in this first of Sam Smith’s four shows at London’s O2 Arena, it was the segments when the 25-yearold laid his soul bare that became the highlights. For all his efforts to leaven the following two hours with more upbeat songs, strangely, I wish we’d had more of these moments.
Smith broke through in 2014 with the 12 million-selling album In the Lonely Hour, attaining Adele-like levels of global fame. His forte lay in overlaying traditional themes of confessional songwriting – loneliness, heartache and loss – with unexpected personal twists and observations. He released the follow-up, The Thrill of It All, last November. Despite its late release date, it was still the UK’S third bestselling album in 2017. In between, he squeezed in a Bond theme, winning an Oscar in the process. While not quite at Ed Sheeran levels of popularity, Smith remains one of British music’s most bankable exports.
Looking freshly svelte in a salmoncoloured suit, he was clearly delighted to be at the O2, waving to every section and pointing out where he sat when he saw Beyoncé and Lady Gaga. “I’m aware that my music can be a bit depressing. But we’ve worked so hard to make the night uplifting,” he said. The Motown-lite soul of One Last Song and I’m Not The Only One served this purpose. Yet they failed to resonate half as much as slower songs such as the maudlin Lay Me Down, in which Smith’s molasses-rich voice oscillated seamlessly between tenor and falsetto.
The Writing’s On The Wall, from the 2015 Bond film Spectre, was accompanied with doom-laden strings and the opening of a vast hydraulic Shard-like pyramid that towered over the stage. It was a moment of high drama (although the song’s still not as good as Adele’s Skyfall).
During a run of five songs from The Thrill of It All at the end of the main set, the show came alive. These were Smith’s most confessional songs. Scars, about his parents’ divorce, with a verse sung to each of them, was a raw and painful listen but ultimately forgiving – almost a love letter to the pair of them. HIM addressed both Smith’s homosexuality and God. It was a defiant stomp, with Smith declaring that he’s a proud gay man and that love is love, whatever form it takes. This deeply personal streak continued into the encore, with his best-known song, Stay With Me, about the lonely aftermath of a one-night stand. The line when Smith admits that the emotion he’s showing is “not a good look” remains remarkably powerful. As he sang, we felt his pain.
Smith was clearly walking a tightrope between putting on a show and wallowing in his darkness. But he excels when he really opens up. I could have done with a little less mid-tempo soul and even more of Smith’s own bruised soul.