Look, we’re going to level with you here: it’s no secret that we absolutely adore Tom Grennan.
After all, what’s not to love? He writes great songs, sounds brilliant live, and happens to be a pretty flippin’ nice guy to boot. That, dear reader, is pretty much all we ask from any professional Singer Of Songs in this day and age.
He holds it all together when it all goes wrong
So, when we were asked if we’d like to head down to Bristol’s O2 Academy to check out Tom‘s sold-out show there, it’s safe to say that we couldn’t say ‘yes’ quickly enough. We arrived at the venue, and eagerly awaited the arrival of 2018’s biggest breakthrough star. The lights went down, the crowd let out a roar, and the first chord was struck as Mr. Grennan sauntered onto the stage – it was time.
Then… Silence. The crowd kept cheering, but something was amiss. Now, we’re no experts in the intricacies of live sound: yet, as soon as it clicked in our ‘lil heads that Tom and his band were up on the stage but that no sound was coming out of the venue’s speakers, we kinda figured that something might have gone wrong.
Some artists would panic in this situation; most, in fact, would probably take this opportunity to go and hide backstage until this entire situation had played itself out and everything was back to normal. So, Mr. Grennan did what any self-respecting singer-songwriter would do in that situation: he grabbed a guitar and led the crowd in a fifteen-minute singalong of tracks old and new, before delving right into a full-length (and full-band) set once the technical issues had been resolved.
Turns out the set was worth waiting for after all
Naturally, once all of that nonsense had been sorted out, Tom absolutely smashed it. His voice was on top form, his band were tight as hell, and his setlist was… Well, to put it simply, it was absolutely bloody insane. After all, you don’t get to be the Man Of The Moment without having some serious tunes behind you, and it’s safe to say that Tom has got these in droves. From the stadium-stomp of Praying to the better-late-than-never Noughties indie anthem that is Found What I’ve Been Looking For (via the phones-in-the-air acoustic-rock of Barbed Wire), Tom‘s set was ninety minutes of the kind of pure indie-rock gold that any indie singer-songwriter in the country would kill to be performing every night.
He sounds great, he looks great, and he knows how to put on a great show – so, if you ever get the chance to see a Tom Grennan show, then do make sure that you go along. If you’re looking for a new favourite singer, then you might just have found what you were looking for; and, if not, you’ll get to see a fairly fantastic indie-rock gig. That, dear reader, is what we call a win-win.
