On a sunny Saturday in mid-May, Bradley Simpson touched down at Manchester’s O2 Ritz, greeted by early queues that seemed to hold the venue’s entire capacity, wrapping around onto Oxford Road and leaving many passersby bemused. This came as an initial testimony to the devotion of his fanbase, many of whom have stood by his side since his days as the lead vocalist of The Vamps, the much-loved boyband best known for earning five UK top ten singles within the space of a year. For this tour, however, Bradley Simpson presented a solo show in support of his own debut record, The Panic Years, bringing Shropshire’s indie-pop darling Nieve Ella along for the ride.
Nieve Ella opening for Bradley Simpson in venues of the same size as those she headlined on her own tour earlier this spring might come as a surprise, but seemed to make more sense as she delivered an acoustic set accompanied solely by Finn Marlow, the guitarist and backing vocalist of her usual touring band. After opening with a gorgeous rendition of ‘The Things We Say’, Nieve addressed the crowd, asking “you’re really loud, this is not my show, what are you doing?” before concluding “I’m not nervous anymore, this is so lovely. I thought I was going to shit myself”.
‘Car Park’ saw the line “maybe if we were friends it would be fine” shouted back to Nieve by a crowd clearly familiar with her discography, and this continued to be perceivable throughout ‘Sweet Nothings’. Hints at unreleased material came in the form of ‘Lucky Girl’ and ‘Good Grace’. Following ‘Anything’, the opener of recent EP Watch It Ache and Bleed, Nieve announced “we’re gonna do a cover of a song by a lovely woman, Lizzy McAlpine”, before launching into ‘Spring Into Summer’. Her version proved the natural affinity between the two artists despite their stylistic differences, and sounded like she could have written it herself.
Credit: Samuel Chamberlain @ The Mancunion
It truly is amazing how two people with two guitars are able to capture the essence of songs created with an entire team, and the acoustic performance allowed Nieve’s vocals to shine and soar in ways that aren’t as noticeable on studio versions of her songs. This was particularly evident during ‘Sugarcoated’, the set’s closer which further testified to her ability to select songs that lent themselves to stripped-back versions. Before departing the stage, Nieve paused to inform the crowd “we came to Manchester on tour two months ago, and it was the best show we’ve ever played”, before stating “this is the best show yet” of the Bradley Simpson tour.
As Simpson himself prepared to make his grand entrance accompanied by pounding drums courtesy of Elena Costa, the venue’s lights began to flash, and it became apparent that there really is nothing more powerful than the screech of a teenage fangirl. From the moment he walked onstage, it was clear that Simpson is a star who knows how to play to his crowd, providing eye contact aplenty and front row handshakes that sent the crowd wild, with fans vying for attention through cardboard signs and unceasing screams of “I love you”.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it’s Bradley Simpson”, he proclaimed as he brought ‘Getting Clear’ to a close: “I fucking love Manchester so much, you all look gorgeous first of all”. “I’m going to make sure you go home with no voice because you’ve been singing all night, I’m going to make sure you go home with sore feet because you’ve been jumping and dancing all night”, he vowed, before launching into The Panic Years single ‘Picasso’ and the country-tinged ‘Cry at the Moon’, the latter of which saw cowboy hats raised in the air.
Credit: Samuel Chamberlain @ The Mancunion
Simpson raced through his debut album tracks at a remarkable pace, barely stopping for breath through ‘Almost’ and ‘Not Us Anymore’ before pausing to introduce his band, including “the most handsome man you’ve ever seen in a waistcoat, on electric guitar and bass, James Attwood”. Chants of “take it off" arose from the crowd at this opportune moment, which Simpson jestingly responded to with “we’re only halfway through the show, it’s not Magic Mike”.
“Please welcome to the stage, Nieve Ella”, Simpson declared, inviting his support act to return for a rendition of their collaborative version of ‘Favourite Band’, a stand-out track from The Panic Years which was sure to provide the night’s highlight. The two delivered an energetic performance of the track, complete with an unrivalled onstage chemistry. “Make some noise for Nieve and Finn, and make some noise for your damn selves Manchester. This is the biggest solo headline show I’ve done to date”, he announced to the crowd of 1,500 devoted fans before performing ‘Holy Grail’.
Simpson’s audience was not quite the sea of phones that may have been expected, until The Vamps star bravely entered the crowd to deliver an entirely acoustic rendition of ‘The Band’s Not Breaking Up’. Performing this minus his microphone, the song was barely audible from the edges of the crowd, and there was no chance of seeing Simpson himself as phones shot up to capture the moment. In quite the humorous contrast, once Simpson had returned to the safety of the stage he followed up with a surprisingly impressive cover of Buzzcocks’ iconic ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’, before asking “any Shrek fans in here?” in reference to the song’s appearance on the Shrek 2 soundtrack.
“Take it off” chants returned after ‘Always Like This’, and this time Simpson seemed a tad more up for it, asking “the trousers or the vest, or what?”, before he took a moment to get personal. “I wrote this album, The Panic Years, about the past ten years of my life, growing up in my twenties, growing up in a band, and it was quite a weird time but the overarching message is that it will be alright”. The album’s closer and title track appeared, before Simpson departed for the encore at ten o’clock on the dot.
Credit: Samuel Chamberlain @ The Mancunion
Returning with ‘Daisies’ clad in a vest bearing the word Manchester, fans threw the song’s titular flowers into the air on cue, proving their devotion once again. “That was the best one of the tour so far, Manchester this has been absolutely gorgeous. I will be back, and I will have new music, and we will do this again; until then, I love you, I love you, I love you”, the star declared, closing his show with ‘Carpet Burn’ and some drawn-out guitar shredding that provided an appropriate conclusion.
Bradley Simpson is the kind of act you may want to hate, but after experiencing one of his live shows it’s almost inevitable you’ll wish to be part of his fanbase, even if only to relate to their ecstatic reception. At times, the West Midlands star seemed to talk to the crowd as a schoolteacher would to their students, frequently displaying a cringe-worthy yet somehow endearing stage presence – quite apt, considering the average age of the audience was around fifteen. While his back catalogue, both as a solo artist and as lead singer of The Vamps, may not be made up of the most original or exciting material, his admirable control over stage, show, and crowd cannot be denied, and it’s safe to say that a vast majority of the audience thoroughly enjoyed being in the presence of their much-loved star for just over an hour.
Comments
Powered by DisqusComments are provided by Disqus.