Tom A Smith, you blew our socks off
Tom A Smith takes you on a journey through every single emotion. His set at the Camden Assembly, covered the whole range. It’s a cycle of emotions that a lot of people experience. But whatever emotions you may be going through, you will always get back to Little Bits. Positive energy, belief, determination.
A few hours before the gig at the Camden Assembly, Tom A Smith posted a tweet about it, saying “we’re gonna blow your socks off”.
It was one of the late stages of his headline tour, towards the end of a very busy and productive year for him and the band. The night started with a pleasant feel-good pop show by another seriously talented young singer, Tom Abisgold. Then, Harvey Jay Dodgson and his band, set the rock mood and sound with some great rock songs, building up to the main show.
You always expect Tom A Smith to deliver a great show and charge your batteries. The levels of confidence and showmanship that this 19-year old is showing, are off the scale. Of course he has been performing on stage since he was smaller than a guitar. At the age of 19 he has so much experience. He feels totally confident and at home when he’s on stage. And just when you think he couldn’t possibly get better than that, he comes back even better the next time. He keeps adding more elements to his performance, like singing a couple of songs without the guitar. There was another part of the show when he ditched the band and performed two songs on his own. There were moments when he was speaking to the audience and he noticed a couple of people chatting at the back of the classroom. He stopped for a few seconds to let them know they’ve been caught. And he did everything with a lot of charm. He knows how to entertain in every way. He knows how to own the show by being charming.
He started off with Wolves, the first song he has released as a single. Then it was Toronto. A song he has been performing live for a long time. Then he went to a phase of emotional songs, showing struggles and insecurities, before he arrived at Little bits.
Losing My Grip is a song that hasn’t been officially released as a single. It was part of the first limited edition of demos he released. The release was called “demos vol.1”, but it’s also unofficially known as “The Thing”.
And here’s your motivational speaker, Mr. Tom A Smith. Little Bits is a single that went as high as No.48 in the general iTunes charts. It was also used by BBC as the intro theme song for their coverage of the AJ Bell World Triathlon Championship Series in 2023. A song you should listen to, when you need a boost of confidence.
The worst is still to come
No, I’m definitely not talking about the show. It’s the title of the 9th song in the set, following Weirdo. I think it’s OK to talk about the story behind the song, as Tom has shared it on social media. During the lockdown, there was a time when Tom was spending a lot of time playing games on his console. His dad, Andy, got fed up by hearing Tom screaming at the game. He told him he would have to treat music as a full time job and spend more time writing music than playing games. Tom said “what’s the point of writing all those songs if nobody’s going to listen to them”? But his dad got his way and Tom went and wrote “the worst is still to come”. It’s like an unhappy reaction to his dad, but I can tell you, Andy is absolutely loving it. And it turns out, a lot of people are going to listen to those songs.
Boltcutters was No.10 on the list. I was hoping he would play it on the Telecaster, which he did. Such a nice ballad, a rare love song by Tom, in which he really smashes those low notes. It’s one of my TOP 3 of his songs. But then my TOP 3 consists of 7 songs.
Fading away
Tom A Smith without a guitar? What’s that all about? Well, he has actually been performing without a guitar in the last few months and it adds move variation to his stage presence. He’s now comfortable with it. Fading Away is his latest single which is available in all the stores. The video of Fading Away features footage that was filmed when he was 9-10 years old, showing him putting a Sunderland flag onto the moon and playing his Squier guitar before the aliens found him. That shows there was always a plan and belief by his family that he would become a musician.
Here is the official video of Fading Away from Tom's Channel:
For Never good enough, he invited Tom Abisgold onto the stage to play guitar, as he wanted to sing a 2nd song without playing the guitar himself. More Toms on stage, more energy.
The original version of Like You do, was written by Tom himself. Then, he had a studio session with Miles Kane, in which they transformed the song into its current form. The song was featured on Soccer AM, when Tom and Miles Kane appeared together and performed the song live. Let’s not focus on the football side. The song is yet another hit in the live shows. And it’s a song that randomly pops into my head from time to time.
The finale
Tom saved Dragonfly for last and the place went totally mad. The floor was shaking so much, you would think there was an earthquake. It’s the song by which he caught my eye and I think it’s still his best song so far. I still love that guitar solo. In the end, Tom dropped the guitar face down on the floor and walked off the stage. The guitar was crying and had to be consoled by Dylan. Maybe Dylan was also keen to check whether Tom had snapped a string by dropping it. If you have followed the recent posts on social media, you know what that’s all about.
It was a great end to a great show. As always, Tom had time for everyone after the show, chatting, signing and taking pictures.
A couple of years ago, Tom was looking for chances to support anyone, anywhere, while releasing music at the same time. He went from being the opening act of the night, to 2nd act of the night, to having his own headline gigs, with support from other bands in 2022. I guess he didn’t officially call that a headline tour, but in 2023 he’s having an amazing headline tour, with Tom Abisgold supporting him throughout the whole tour and other bands joining at different venues up and down the country. What’s the next step? Selling out gigs in London? That box is already checked as well. The Camden Assembly was sold out and his show was incredible, after Tom Abisgold and Harvey Jay Dodgson delivered a great build up to the main show.
After the show, I said to him “next time you’re in the Camden area, you will probably be a few meters further towards Chalk Farm station”. That’s the Roundhouse. And I do believe it will happen, as a natural progression, considering all the progress he has made in the last couple of years.
Tom A Smith and his band members Katie, Dylan and Frazer, delivered a truly incredible show and charged my batteries so much that I couldn’t sleep until very late. It was banger after banger, while he still has other great songs that couldn’t make the cut. If he can do that by the age of 19, imagine the collection of bangers he will have by the time he’s 25, 30 years old.
He saved Dragonfly for last, the place went mad and he chose to end the show by dropping the guitar face down on the floor and walking off the stage. The whole show was incredibly entertaining. His showmanship, his charm, his communication with the audience, added to the great music he played with his band.
At the end of the day Tom, you absolutely delivered on your promise. You blew our socks off.