ShareHolly Humberstone performing her Sleep Tight Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Sunday 4th December 2022.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
Rock City was packed on Sunday night with reluctant parents and floods of adoring fans that were there to see Grantham born Holly Humberstone on the last night of her headline tour. This is her first tour of venues this size, but with all of the well deserved industry hype, it is unlikely to be her last.
She delivered a set list that included everything from her only album, Can You Afford To Lose Me? and a couple of new tracks that were instantly absorbed by the crowd.
The intro to The Walls Are Way Too Thin filled the room and as Humberstone came onto the stage for one of her more up tempo songs, the fans danced along. Following up with the catchy Vanilla which showed the rockier edge of her live performance, she was ably assisted by her backing band.
But Humberstone is much more than a singer; she is an incredible songwriter who writes about her experiences in life. The electronic tinged pop of Please Don’t Leave Just Yet saw her proving her prowess as a power balladeer and London Is Lonely was written about her experiences moving to the capital whilst Haunted House saw her take to the keyboard and singing of her early life in the Lincolnshire countryside.
There was the melodic Friendly Fire played with soft playful guitar and vocals with its slowly swelling synths, and stripping things back to just keys and a pounding beat, she delivered a powerful version of her debut single Deep End, a song she explained was inspired by her sister’s mental health struggles.
Her latest single, Sleep Tight had the crowd hanging on her every word and when she came back for encore song, Scarlett with its soaring chorus, it was easy to justify her rapid ascent to stardom.
Humberstone was the recipient of the prestigious Rising Star Brit Award earlier this year. Previous winners included Adele and Sam Smith and just look what happened to them. This tour feels like it is a huge step on a journey for one of the best singer songwriters that the UK has recently produced.