Gig review: Holly Humberstone at O2 Academy Leeds

Holly Humberstone playing O2 Academy Leeds. Picture: Neil Chapman/Unholy Racket Music Pics

Few would argue that the last few years have been tougher than ever for new artists. This period was particularly cruel for those gaining real momentum before the world shutdown. Holly Humberstone was caught in the pandemic predicament but has come out of it flying.

Just over a year since a much-delayed appearance at The Brudenell Social Club, and a summer of festival appearances, she arrives centre-stage to a packed O2 Academy in Leeds. The intro to the Walls are Way Too Thin fills the room. It’s one of the more up-tempo numbers on her recent Can’t You Afford To Lose me? debut album. The fans who are here tonight know every word and sing along through-out.

The backdrop to the show is filled with the names of those who form part of an ever-growing Twitter following. This recognises the importance of social media in early music careers when touring was restricted.

Vanilla follows with a similar tempo and a continuation of the audience reaction. There is a lot of love for Holly Humberstone in the room, with a home-made banner professing such from the front rows. Her music has connected strongly with those that lost much of a vital couple of years.

The set-list tonight includes everything from her new album, which brings together the highlights of several previous E.P.s along with some new tracks. The songs follow Holly’s experience throughout her life. Haunted House sees her take to the keyboard and singing of her early life in the Lincolnshire countryside. London is Lonely, one of the newer songs, follows her experiences moving to the capital. Friendships, relationships and the trials and tribulations of a young life all feature strongly.

Despite her using one of the between song chats to describe herself as ‘getting old’ she has, at 22, plenty of lyrical ammunition to come. The parents accompanying younger members of the audience tonight will have allowed themselves a knowing smile.

The set ebbs and flows through from Deep End to Sleep Tight. She returns for a one song encore with Scarlett.

This tour feels like it is the end of the first chapter of her career. One of the best of a rich crop of singer songwriters the UK has produced recently, she has taken to the larger stages on this tour with an ever-growing confidence. There is certainly more to come from Holly Humberstone.