This concert is the one I've been anxiously waiting to review for months and I am so excited to finally be writing this post! Sam Smith is one of the most in demand singers in the world right now and for good reason. He is absolutely incredible and even that word is a massive understatement for how talented he is. Everyone with a radio has surely heard Stay with Me and Latch as well as some other songs from Sam's debut album In the Lonely Hour. I had actually discovered Latch well before I had heard his other music and it's my favorite song in the universe, I will NEVER get sick of it. When I found out he was coming to Chicago, it was a no brainer that I was going! Tickets weren't expensive at all and it was at one of my favorite venues, the Riv. I love seeing great artists at smaller venues before they eventually play larger places. I hope that Sam continues to play these venues because his voice sounded phenomenal in that space! The opening act was a duo out of New Zealand called Broods. I didn't see much of their set, but from what I heard/saw they seem like a pretty cool group. Right before Sam took the stage, I moved to the side so I could get a clearer view of the stage. When he came on that stage, I thought the roof was going to cave in due to the roar of the crowd. It was unbelievable! I can't even imagine how it feels to be so young (he's 22, my age) and have that much success and so many fans that absolutely adore you. I found a copy of the setlist so here are the songs in the order they were performed; Intro, Nirvana, Together, Leave Your Lover, I'm Not the Only One, I've Told You Now, Like I Can, Restart, How Will I Know (Whitney Houston), Good Thing, La La La, Lay Me Down, Money on My Mind and the encore which was Latch, Make it To Me, and Stay with Me. After a beautiful intro, he opened the show with a song I had never heard called Nirvana. It was a great song to kick off the show with. He played a fantastic setlist that included songs off a previously released EP, songs from his debut album In The Lonely Hour and a new song called Restart (LOVE it). Everyone in the audience knew all the lyrics to every song, including the security guards! The acoustic version of Latch almost made me cry, it's my favorite song to begin with but the stripped down version is so beautiful. His voice is flawless and he really knows how to interact with a crowd. He kept saying how much he loves Chicago and that the audience was his favorite from this tour so far. He is basically the female version of Adele, down to the accent. If they ever did a collaboration together it would be one of the greatest things to happen in the music world. Right after the show I almost left but I am so glad I didn't because I met him and got a picture with him! He is the nicest person I've met and was so sweet to everyone. After I grabbed coffee and started heading home, he was STILL in the line talking to people and taking pictures! It's so rare for an artist nowadays to actually spend so much time with their fans, it really tells a lot about the person. He also smells amazing and is way taller in real life than I expected haha. I can't wait until he comes back to Chicago and I hope that I'll be able to meet him again. I took a few pictures and snippets of some songs but if you want to see the full length performances there's a bunch of great videos from the show on Youtube.
Latch (acoustic)
Stay With Me
Restart
Talking about Disclosure in his cool British accent
My favorite picture in the world.
DO YOUR EARS A FAVOR AND GO SEE SAM SMITH LIVE! He is such a fantastic performer and has the voice of an angel. I hope that he continues to be successful for many years to come and that he never changes his wonderful personality because he is truly a class act.
