Gig review: Louis Tomlinson at First Direct Bank Arena, Leeds
The Doncaster star leans on his man-of-the-people bonafides with the low-key charms of a man wryly bemused by his stadium-shaking adolescence across an eclectic show.
“Leeds, how did we get here?” Louis Tomlinson cries, shirttails buffeted by the air-con breeze at the city’s First Direct Bank Arena. Fringe skewed with a lopsided curl, the microphone stand clutched firmly in one hand, the Doncaster-born singer-songwriter offers an exaggerated shrug behind his words - and admirably holds his ground as several-thousand screams greet his gesture.
There remains something profoundly personable about the ex-One Direction star, perhaps more so than any of his former bandmates to boot. His piece of the post-boyband trajectory puzzle, so often elusively intangible to place, was the last to fully launch with 2020’s debut album Walls; his subsequent records Faith in the Future and How Did I Get Here? both duly topped the domestic charts less on the basis of hit singles, and more on the low-key charms of a man who frequently appears equal parts wryly bemused and keenly grateful for the hullabaloo of a stadium-shaking adolescence, one he seems to have tamed on the tide.
Those man-of-the-people bonafides – now amusingly encapsulated in Glastonbury folklore after he hosted a Euro 2024 watch party amid the tents – are not the only thing that has smoothed his pathway back into five-figure capacity sheds however.
At the nearest thing Tomlinson has to an outright homecoming date on this run, and backed by a tight five-piece band, he showcases his refined palate too, with a swathe of new material that feels almost custom-tooled for the arena circuit; a two-dozen song-strong set of massed hooks and handwave interludes that enhances his profile to boot.
There is a greater eclectism on show than Tomlinson may earn credit for, with the star adept at the shifts between Lemonade’s retro rubber-funk and the buttery pop of On Fire.
An early string of torch ballads, capped by the post-Britpop wallop of Dark to Light, feels like fertile ground for the football fan within, as does the woozy-psych refrains of Lazy and Sunflowers.
Just Hold On, his EDM-built debut, finds itself pared back to the bare bones with a disarming elegance, one that leaves the singer visibly grinning to himself.
“It’s been a while since I was here to play a gig,” he quips. “I don’t get to play these rooms without you.” Then he’s into the barriers for Palaces, almost swallowed under again.
The tide, indeed, is with him.