Tom Grennan
Max
Watts, Melbourne

23 Sept 2022

Local singer-songwriter San Joseph starts us off tonight with an acoustic set of alt-pop that quickly hooks us in. If you’re a fan of Ed Sheeran then you’ll instantly be drawn to his emotive, yet energetic sound that incorporates a diverse mix of genres with his own personal touch.

The up-and-coming artist only has a couple of songs on his Spotify including Blink Twice, so he plays a few unreleased tracks for us about relatable moments like his car getting broken into after leaving his boot open (he wishes that wasn’t true). Another song is inspired by Tom Cruise and an honest anthem about Los Angeles, warns us the city sucks (after his bad experience there).

He uses his loop pedals to change up his sound in amongst sweet falsettos that echo throughout the room. He ends his set on a high with a brand-new song only just released today called How To Miss You, that’s bound to be an massive hit and sure to get people adding him to their playlists in no time.

Tom Grennan goes from zero to a hundred with his high energy and engaging stage presence. “It’s a public holiday so anything goes,” he shouts, firing up the crowd with excitement. He launches into his hits with Found What I’ve Been Looking For and blows us away with his incredibly powerful vocal range.

“This place is special to me and we’re gonna make sure this journey will become huge. We’re only at the start here,” says Grennan. It’s his first Australian tour and after being rescheduled several times, he’s glad to finally make an in-person connection with his fans. The British singer-songwriter is already lighting up the charts and being played on high rotation on popular radio stations so it’s clear he’s building lots of momentum and winning over fans quickly.

He admits he flaked with jet lag a few hours ago but wide awake now that he’s on stage and he’s such a pro we honestly couldn’t even tell if he was tired. “Do we want more energy now,” he asks. We clap jump along in response to keep the energy levels amped up.

The crowd continues to have a good old party with him, and we sing in chorus for Amen and a string of hits including Don’t Break The Heart, Remind Me and Not Over Yet. I’m a very lucky boy, I never thought I’d even cove here let alone play music here. So, thank you for making my dreams come true. We are blessed to be here,” he declares.  The house lights dim and phone torches light up to make the disco ball above glisten for an emotional song called Make My Mind Up, accompanied by keyboard.

Grennan then shares the song that started his career about six years ago (All Goes Wrong) and despite the chafe from all the dancing, he keeps powering through with his hit Calvin Harris collaboration By Your Side, which he cheekily replaces the chorus for an Aussie chant.

He tells us he’s been working very hard on new album and it’s coming very soon. His dream is to be one of the biggest artists in the world and Australia. At the rate he’s going, he’s on track for great success. An encore of Little Bit Of Love brings the show to a close with a passionate singalong from the audience that soaks up every last breath of his captivating vocals.

Words by Michael Prebeg

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