07 Fév Tom Odell enchants Festival Hall in Melbourne
An outstanding Australian show for Tom Odell
The singer-songwriter Them & I opens the evening with an emotional performance. He begins with a cover of Adele, Someone Like You, accompanied by a cellist and a pianist. He immediately captures our attention with his soft, fragile voice. Then, he continues with his own compositions. The lyrics are full of emotion, and Them & I perfectly sets the tone for the rest of the evening. He performs an extended version of his track a tape for what i couldn’t say, as well as a beautiful cover of Coldplay, Sparks, which completely wins over the audience.
Tom Odell then steps onto the stage discreetly, alone at the grand piano, under the spotlight. The concert begins simply with Strange House, Ugly and Best Day Of My Life. From the very start, the audience is captivated. On stage, his voice feels more exposed than on the recordings. It sometimes trembles, holds back, and this fragility gives the concert a particular intensity.The full band then joins him for Grow Old With Me. The rest of the concert skillfully blends his older songs with tracks from his latest album, Wonderful Life. The singer explores themes such as love, despair, resilience and the search for meaning. The songs often begin softly, then burst throughout the entire venue.
Songs like Don’t Let Me Go and Can We Just Go Home Now show Tom Odell’s evolution as a songwriter. His older tracks, I Know and Can’t Pretend, take on new strength. They do not feel outdated; on the contrary, they seem renewed by time. Tom Odell had not toured in Australia for more than ten years, and he shares how excited he is about this concert. « Anytime you want us to come back to Melbourne, we’ll come back and play for you. It’s amazing to spend time here » , he exclaims.
To the audience’s great delight, a six-song encore extends the evening after Tom Odell briefly leaves the stage following Black Friday. The most moving moment comes when he returns to his beginnings with Heal and addresses the crowd with a deeply touching speech. « In the early years, I didn’t really ever sing this song, I couldn’t connect to it, and then it’s in recent years I’ve connected the lyrics much more. I want to leave it with you. I know a lot of people that listen to my music have being through shit, are going through shit, and they use the music as a way to not feel so alone. I hope that my songs, which aren’t the happiest of songs do that. »
As we expected, Another Love brings the evening to a close. From the very first notes, the crowd erupts. Everyone sings along to every word and phones light up the hall. For a few minutes, Festival Hall seems suspended in time.
Tom Odell’s return reminds us of his ability to captivate an entire venue and to invite thousands of people into his inner world. He may even have managed to bring a few tears to our eyes during his performances of Heal and Another Love.
To read :
Tom Odell aux Bouffes du Nord : une parenthèse enchantée
Le concert magique de Tom Odell à l’Accor Arena
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