Unsurprisingly, it was his more straightforward, country-tinged pop hits that received the biggest reaction, with a pair of new tracks (one, somewhat audaciously, bolstered by a mid-song confetti cannon as Smith handed out baseball caps) showing that the singer’s propensity for sunny, mid-afternoon festival crowd pleasers is in good hands.
Next month, he’ll play an upgraded second show at the 3,500-capacity Hammersmith Apollo that’s also been sold out for months; it would be easy to imagine a trajectory for Smith into far, far bigger rooms in the not so distant future.
Though the hyper radio-friendly hooks of Stargazing and the endlessly peppy Nice To Meet You are tracks designed for mass appeal and connection that paint in unashamedly broad strokes, Smith was quick to assert himself as an artist with more depth.
In the 14 months since viral breakthrough track My Home, the Luton native has been ticking off massive career milestones on an almost monthly basis: a gold podium position for gargantuan hit Stargazing as 2024’s most-streamed song by a UK artist.
“It’s only been a couple of years but I actually started this journey when I was 10 and my mum bought me my first guitar,” he declared before pointing out the significance of the Empire: “We started off in a pub round the corner playing to about 80 people, so now to be here with 2,000 of you… what a journey.”.
