Performing to a sold-out arena, Grennan proved himself a worthy showman as he wowed the Birmingham audience at Utilita Arena.
Allie Sherlock took to the arena stage at an unusually early seven-fifteen, her soaring vocals drawing the ever-growing audience in. Opening the night with a mix of originals and covers, including Lola Young’s ‘Messy’, Sherlock closed her set with Adele’s ‘Set Fire To The Rain’, naming herself a “number one Adele fan” and inviting the audience to warm up their voices as she exclaimed, “I wish I could stay here all night!”.
After a brief interlude, the lights dimmed and a suspense-filled intro cued Tom Walker’s entrance, shouting, “Birmingham, how are we feeling?”. Opening with his 2024 release ‘Holy Ghost’, Walker’s anthemic sound was far larger than the three-piece band on stage.
Combining heartfelt lyricism, sarcasm-infused humour and his trademark beanie, he soon had the audience practising their singing with a “karaoke rehearsal” of ‘Just You and I’, humoursly commenting, “I’m not expecting anyone to know the verse, I’m doing that bit”. Later came “group therapy” from ‘Burn’, instructing the red-lit crowd to sing it back “like you’re Freddie Mercury after 8 pints of Stella”. An unsurprising final song came from viral hit ‘Leave A Light On’, phone torches lighting up the arena as fans screamed the chorus, most definitely warmed up for the ever-closer entrance of Grennan.
After the curtain dropped, immediately leaping around the stage, Grennan launched into the fourth single of his latest album, the adoring audience giving him their ‘Full Attention’. With a full band, including brass and backing singers that came to the forefront during the show, it was instantly clear that Grennan is no stranger to putting on a dazzling performance. With his name lit up in giant lettering on stage, he instead used the full length of the platform, seemingly trying to make eye contact and interact with everyone in the packed-out crowd. The first confetti canon of the night complemented the excitable audience’s screams as Grennan asked, “Who’s up for a party?” before diving into ‘All These Nights’.
Despite Grennan’s clear pride and showmanship, his bravado still left space for humility as he fondly reminisced on playing his first gig in Birmingham eight years ago; “there were 130 people and now we’re playing a sold-out arena”. ‘Cool With That’ got everyone waving along, whilst ‘Found’ proved the infectious chemistry between the onstage performers. “I need everyone singing this”, introduced ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, as 15,000 voices were complemented by a synchronised two-step from the brass section. Describing his 2023 hit, ‘Crown Your Love’ as a “song that keeps giving”, a beautiful a cappella ad-lib ending gave way to ‘Certified’, bringing the vocalists front and centre with swaggering jazz inflexions.
Inviting the audience to “make some noise for the people on stage”, Angel Silvera joined him on the platform for a stunning rendition of ‘Let’s Go Home Together’, originally written with Ella Henderson. Emotions continued to run high with ‘I Won’t Miss A Thing’ from his 2025 album, as the audience lit up Grennan with phone torches, some softly singing along, while others listened, creating a comforting silence between the lyrics that explored grief. Describing the track as “the first song where I had to go inside myself”, writing whilst his grandad was very ill, Grennan intimately shared, “I know the spirit of that person is going to be living inside me… my cousin is standing next to me”.
‘Diamond’ brought the energy straight back up, before everyone in the sold-out arena sang and danced along to ‘How Does It Feel’. “I had a dream and I’m living it here”, Grennan exclaimed in a heartfelt speech, “the happiness I’m feeling inside right now is crazy”. From the audience reaction, it was clear this feeling was shared. Soon, jacket off, Grennan ran, jumped, spun during ‘Lionheart’, the non-stop electric atmosphere continuing in ‘By Your Side’ as he declared the Birmingham show “hard to beat”. Undeterred by falling on stage and now sporting a pink cowboy hat from the crowd, ‘Remind Me’ was the penultimate song of the extraordinary evening.
“Thank you for believing in me…we are a family and I promise you I ain’t going nowhere, no way”, cried Grennan, before showing the audience a gift thrown from the audience for his child; “I’m now a dad”. The already excited audience reached another level as Grennan closed his second night of tour with viral sensation ‘Little Bit Of Love’, the crowd singing back every word with adoration as pink confetti fluttered down around them.
The final tickets for Tom Grennan’s UK and Europe tour can be found here: https://www.tomgrennanmusic.
Maisy Neale
Images: Finn Delisle
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