TOM A. SMITH AT THE LOWER THIRD SOHO

Photo Credit: Esme Brigden

Building up to the release of his latest EP, ‘Put On A Record Tommy’, Sunderland’s Tom A. Smith embarked on a 16-date tour across the UK, “opening the Tommy’s Dance Place doors” to hundreds of fans nationwide. Nearing the end of the run, Smith stopped off in the capital, bringing the tour’s momentum to The Lower Third in Soho. From the moment he burst onto the stage, he wasted no time igniting the room, bringing a relentless, infectious energy to the 250-capacity venue. The set felt both electric and intimate, balancing raw energy with a sense of connection between the band and the crowd. 

Hunny Buzz, having supported Smith throughout the tour, were tasked with opening the night; and did so with an energy that immediately loosened the crowd, their catchy hooks and punchy rhythms drawing in everybody in the room. The set felt enjoyably intimate, with the Bristol four-piece cracking jokes between songs, shrugging off a false start with “that’s live music, baby”, and introducing the “Hunny Buzz Shopping Channel”, where they playfully plugged their merch range. They made sure to warm up the audience’s voices too, leading a call-and-response singalong for the chorus of unreleased single ‘Hey Mary’. Closing with 2025 single ‘Car Collision’, Hunny Buzz, fittingly, left the room buzzing with energy and building excitement for the rest of the evening, after assuring the crowd with a grin, “it’s gonna be a good night, because Tom’s playing”.

Despite writing, producing, and playing all the instruments himself on his records, Smith performs live with a four-piece band: Katie Anderson, Dylan Abbott, Frazer Graham, and the most recent addition, his younger sister Hannah Smith, who all impressively manage to match his energy, night after night. The evening was a showcase of Smith’s discography, performing some older favourites along with every track off the new EP - which was available for purchase in the form of CDs at the merch desk, before its official release nine days later. 

After opening with a run of recently released singles and cuts from the ‘Say What You Want’ EP, the band shifted gears and burst into something new - ‘Our Song’. The reaction was overwhelming; it was incredibly well received and apparently incredibly easy to pick up, with the crowd continuing to sing the refrain long after the final chord had rung out. This momentum carried seamlessly into another unreleased track, ‘The Only One’, which landed just as well, cementing the sense that even the unfamiliar material already felt like fan favourites in the making.

A confident and effortlessly chatty performer, Smith punctuated his high-energy set with moments of easy crowd interaction. Catching his breath between songs, he asked what the crowd thought of his new look, comparing his contrasting polka dots to those of Angine de Poitrine, and jokingly accusing them of stealing his style. Taking a moment to plug his next London appearance at Banquet Records on June 12th, he announced, “unfortunately, not all of you can come” - a comment that drew puzzled reactions from the crowd. Grinning, he clarified: “because it’s a record shop?”, before joking that, if it came to it, they could always take it outside.

A standout moment came with the performance of ‘I Don’t Want You to Have to Remember Me for Longer Than You Ever Knew Me’, a track originally recorded with Alice Johnson of Swim School. On the night, the song was carried by Katie and Hannah’s vocals, who delivered Johnson’s harmonies with a delicate yet assured touch. They were able to capture the song’s vulnerability while giving it a live intensity that resonated deeply with the audience. Before launching into ‘Fashion’, Smith turned to the band and asked, “can we get as much bass in this room as we possibly can?”; a request that was answered with a swelling rumble that reverberated through the floor and up into the room, steadily building the tension before kicking off one of the highest energy tracks of the night. 

Closing the night with another unreleased track, ‘The Band’ - a song that was highly anticipated after feedback from attendees of earlier tour dates - Smith demonstrated his range with a slower-paced, emotionally charged closer. Stripping things back before building it up again, the track leaned into a reflective intensity, establishing a poignant finale that lingered long after the last note.

If this run of shows is anything to go by, “Put On A Record Tommy” marks a big step forward for Tom A. Smith - it’s bringing a sharper, more intense energy to these grassroots venues that first shaped his sound. With festival season on the horizon, and a catalogue of songs that are already being shouted back to him, Smith is more than ready to carry this momentum onto far bigger stages. And as the crowd proved all night, they’re more than ready to follow wherever he takes it next.