There are not enough words to describe just how phenomenal a live performance from Sam Smith truly is. Never in my life have I heard someone sound so close to the way they sing on their studio album - Sam is the real deal and effortlessly glides through vocals, as if we're as an audience the ridiculous ones for not being able to sing along in perfect tune.
In the incredibly intimate Albert Hall in Manchester - once nightclub Brannigans - Sam came out on stage to raucous cheers and couldn't look happier as he sailed across songs lifted from his debut studio album 'In The Lonely Hour', even including his now much-applauded cover of Whitney Houston's 'How Will I Know'.
Acknowledging that much of his material was "depressing", he thanked the crowd multiple times, beaming with a Cheshire Cat grin whenever he received chants of his name or huge applause. We must thank Sam for going to those dark places in his life and delivering such a stellar record of hits, but on stage at the very least, he seems to have left those times behind. He's enjoying the moment and shows no signs of slowing down.
His impressive set of lungs ensure his falsetto manages to engage and impress every single member of the whooping, astonished crowd who all sway in time with the soft backing tracks. More upbeat songs including 'Restart' and 'La La La' got everybody dancing and though the set may be seen as some as quite short for a headliner (70-80 minutes), it seemed to be the perfect length.
'Money On My Mind' is one of Sam's biggest hits, and so he decided to take club classic 'Finally' and embed it into a gospel-influenced version of the tune - it was an incredibly smart move and one that paid off tenfold.
The biggest surprise of the night came in the encore, when Sam kicked off his final song 'Stay With Me' and his close friend Ed Sheeran walked onto the stage for a duet like no other after covering the song on Radio 1 earlier this year. It was a beautiful collaboration and hopefully one that will lead to the pair getting together in the studio.
Sam is a talent the UK should be immensely proud of. It's not going to take much for him to continue his onslaught on the world's radiowaves (he's already sold out New York's Madison Square Gardens amongst other North America venues within minutes of being on-sale), and it's difficult to imagine being able to get so personal for a performance going forward.
A second sold-out date at Manchester's Albert Hall takes place tonight (October 30), before he takes the tour to Cambridge, Bristol and London in November.
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