The new piano man- Tom Odell gig review

Forget Billy Joel, there is a new piano man to marvel at and he goes by the name of Tom Odell.

November 12th 2016 and thousands of people are all queuing up to see one man and a piano. But it’s far from one man and a piano- it’s a man who writes the most sickeningly sweet love songs that make woman (of all ages I will add) swoon over him and shout such comments as ‘get yer kit off Tom’ amongst hollas of ‘have my babies’. It’s a man who pairs these sonnet similar songs with the most magical piano tunes that range from heart wrenchingly slow to key slides and bangs so hard it’s impossible to imagine how the piano is still in one piece. Donning a classy blue two piece suit and a striped shirt with only 3 buttons done up, this is Tom Odell in concert.

Two albums nailed and a tour of the UK and Europe and this Chichester born lad isn’t

doing too badly for himself you could say. But when you imagine a concert primarily featuring one man and a piano it’s easy to think it may become boring. Don’t. When it comes to Tom Odell he is nothing short of a showman. It may be from the countless, what I think was, glasses of whisky that he consumed throughout the course of his 90 minute set, or maybe it was the thrill of performing to a packed audience of adoring fans, but from the very first note of ‘Still Getting Used To Being On My Own’, his very first song on the set, to his killer ending of ‘Magnetised’ he was nothing less than a showman. His presence was the perfect mixture of well refined posh boy and charismatic piano man which, as you can probably imagine, had every woman in the audience abandoning their loved ones and swooning over the 25 year old.

With more than one album to tour it’s easy to play an uneven mix of tracks, however this seemed to be no bother for Mr Odell. He planned his set list perfectly with a total of 6 songs from his debut album, ‘Long Way Down’, and 8 from his most recent album ‘Wrong Crowd’. Not only was this the perfect mix of songs that everyone could sing to and the opportunity to showcase how his new songs should be performed, but it was also the ideal mix of slower, more romantic, songs, and more upbeat tunes that he could really bang away at. He knew exactly how to get the crowd to jam with him and he had every single person, both men and women, in absolute awe of his musical, song writing, and vocal talents.

He played the piano, he straddled the piano, he got on top of the piano- Tom Odell really used that instrument for everything it was worth; and the crowd loved every minute of it.

Personal highlights for me included Concrete, Magnetised, Hold Me, and everyone’s favourite Grow Old With Me (heart eyes emoji).

Move over Billy Joel because The Piano Man position has been filled by charismatic, insanely talented, and all round mum pleaser Tom Odell. Swoon.

#TomOdell #Gigreview #2016