Sam Smith

In The Lonely Hour has just hit number one on the ARIA charts. It’s not hard to see why the songs have struck a chord with a wide demographic, particularly with an Adele-shaped hole in the market; Smith has a good voice and he’s been working hard off the back of a couple of radio hits. Even so, the fervour with which lines like “Leave your lover / Leave him for me” are received is slightly mystifying.

With only an hour’s worth of mostly ballads to pull from, the show’s producers might’ve been tempted to go over the top, but a solid band and simple but striking staging – the five players and three backing singers dressed in black suits, standing on high platforms – was just right. The songs were largely left as per the record, some heavy reverb here (‘Life Support’), an extended a cappella there (‘Lay Me Down’).

Smith has been earnestly peddling the stories behind the songs since the album’s release last year, yet the audience lapped up the ‘I’ve Told You Now’ tales of drunk dialling and gratitude-with-hindsight to the unobtainable object of his affections. Indeed, upon exiting the arena, one girl could be overheard telling how she cried when Smith said that, unlike some of his support staff, he isn’t making music just to make money (introducing ‘Money On My Mind’).

With support act Emma Louise going slow on her Flight Facilities collaboration ‘Two Bodies’, and Smith’s rendition of ‘Latch’ lacking Disclosure’s shuffling beats, more dancing opportunities wouldn’t have gone amiss, yet this was a professional and politely entertaining show by one of pop’s unlikely stars.