It’s a big year for Bradley Simpson, as not only has he released his debut solo album, but he also turns the big 3-0. Moving away from his work with The Vamps, of which he’s been the lead singer of since 2012, earlier this year he released his debut solo record, The Panic Years, which is all about the ups and downs, the highs and lows, of going through your twenties.

This May, he’s been on a run of dates around the UK and Ireland, starting in Dublin and Newcastle and stopping off at cities including Sheffield, Cardiff and Southampton. Tonight is his last UK show before he heads to Australia, and the vibes are high inside the O2 Forum Kentish Town, one of north London’s most loved venues.

The show starts off with sets from supporting acts Neckbreakers and Nieve Ella, who start the night off with a bang, and give the audience hope that Simpson will bring Nieve Ella out to perform their recent collaboration (spoiler alert: he did just that!)

When it hits show time, Simpson catapults onto stage, diving straight into ‘Getting Clear’ and ‘Picasso’, before picking up his guitar for ‘Cry At The Moon‘. The front row is made up of fans singing along to every word, a few wearing a mix of his own merch and merch from The Vamps – they’ve clearly been fans for a long, long time.

The set continues with ‘Almost’ and ‘Not Us Anymore’, before bringing indie-pop musician Finn Marlow and support act Nieve Ella out to perform ‘Favourite Band‘, which they’ve just released their collaborative version of. Simpson takes a moment to say what a special night it is, how happy he is to be in London, and how he’s never been to this incredible venue before. The crowd cheers, excited to be here on such a special night for him.

When we reach the middle of the set, it’s time for an acoustic song. The crowd boos when Simpson says he can’t perform it in the middle of the crowd like he usually does, but we come to an agreement – he’ll play on the stairs at the side of the venue, giving him a platform above the crowd in the stalls. He makes his way through the crowd and ascends the staircase to perform an acoustic version of ‘The Band’s Not Breaking Up‘, which goes well until a whisper from a member of the band’s crew came through the main speakers, saying ‘do you wanna check these keys?’. The crowd – and Simpson – erupts into giggles and cheers over the mishap. When we all calm down Simpson continues, and we’re treated to a hypnotic and gentle song about the loss and pain of relationships finishing.

After he heads back to the main stage, he performs an electric cover of Chappell Roan’s ‘Hot To Go’, and, of course, every person did the dance in perfect sync. He then plays ‘Always Like This’, where he asked everyone to put their phones away for the final part of the song so that they can fully get into it and not worry about what they’ll sound like singing along when they watch the videos back later. This goes down so well that when he hears the cheers he says, ‘That makes me want to do it again!’ He’s met with 2,300 people chanting ‘Do it!’ back to him, and so he does.

‘It’s all gonna be fine. Whatever it is, it’s gonna be fine.’

Unfortunately for all of us, the night is almost over. For the last song of the main set, he plays the album’s title track, ‘The Panic Years‘. Before the band starts to play, he says, ‘It’s all gonna be fine. Whatever it is, it’s gonna be fine. And If it’s not we’ll get back in this room.’ For the encore, he plays ‘Daisies’ and ‘Carpet Burn’. Before the final song, Simpson says ‘This has been one of the best nights of my life… I really don’t want this to end’. Neither did we. The night ends on a high as Simpson and his band exit the stage, and as I get on the tube home, I’m surrounded by fans saying what an amazing night they had. If ‘The Panic Years’ is Bradley Simpson’s first foray into life as a solo artist, we can only imagine what we have to look forward to from future albums.

SETLIST

Getting Clear
Picasso
Cry At The Moon
Almost
Not Us Anymore
Favourite Band (with Nieve Ella and Finn Marlow)
Holy Grail
The Band’s Not Breaking Up
HOT TO GO! (Chappell Roan cover)
Always Like This (played twice)
The Panic Years
Daisies
Carpet Burn