With this his first venture into a small UK tour, Australian Dean Lewis certainly worked to leave his mark on the Manchester music scene. Sometimes mistaken for a typical guitar-pop artist, Lewis sets himself apart from his fellow artists with his own take on a crowded and competitive genre – his live performances being a stand out feature of what he has to offer.
On this very limited UK tour, Lewis performed at the O2 Ritz in Manchester, with this past week’s run being accompanied by a more than able support act in Noah Kahan. Having tasted major success of his own with singles such as ‘False Confidence’ and the smash hit with Julia Michaels, ‘Hurt Somebody’ the latter track had been a personal favourite I listened to on repeat when released, whilst the former I was only vaguely familiar with. Stylistically Kahan was a perfect opener, the cohesive style complimenting what was to come – it obviously won’t be long before we see him return with his own headline show.
With the crowd in expectation overload, Dean Lewis made his appearance, opening with ‘Hold of Me’ the first track off of his debut album ‘A Place We Knew’. Although never released as a single (not yet at least) the audience knew every word. It was gonna be that type of night.. couples littered the old ballroom, a fitting hark back to when this romantic old place had a sprung wooden dance-floor filled with nothing but energetic couples throwing each other about in more innocent times. This was definitely a place where the singletons were a minority. Their relationship status however didn’t stop the ‘voices raised in song’ vibe to the evening’s proceedings.
The first three songs seemed to be a continuation of the warm up that Kahan had provided until new single ‘Stay Awake’ really brought Lewis into his stride. His expectant followers excitement was spiked right from the opening chord of the track, testament to its strength as voices suddenly raised and said couples separated as girls broke from the hold of their partners, freeing the shackles to dance alone.
As the single concluded Lewis took a minute here for a brief audience chat, stating that he had never played shows this big in England before and especially in Manchester, before going on to praise Noah Kahan and referring to him as ‘One of the good ones’. Usual stuff, but it came across as genuine, you could sense a true admiration in his voice for his touring counterpart and rightly so.
‘Half a Man’ brought a calmer introspective atmosphere. A track that Lewis was asked to sell-on but wouldn’t and a track which pulled his followers heartstrings as he pleaded ‘How am I supposed to love you / when I don’t love who I am?’ Having been a songwriter for other artists it was easy to see that the personal lyrical content at play here must have been the main reason he didn’t want to part with this one.
What became obvious as the show progressed was that apart from the personal nature of the lyrics, it was the vocal delivery throughout that really shone through, at times having more impact than the actual recordings – with ‘Half a man’ being a prime example.
Next to come was what Lewis referred to as his semi-acoustic set featuring the tracks ‘Time to Go’ and ‘Don’t Hold Me’. This semi-intimate interlude was a fitting way to change the dynamic of the show and was an interesting contrast to the typical acoustic section which most other artists utilize in a live capacity. This was closely followed by the monster single everyone had obviously been waiting for, the monolithic ‘Be Alright’, which climbed its way well into the Global Top 50 on Spotify as well as to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 whilst peaking at number 11 on the Official UK Charts. Lewis admitted that this song changed his life and once he made it to the bridge, the audience took over as the singer took a step back to appreciate his fans rendition of his work.
In a well calculated move, the singer brought out the Oasis classic ‘Don’t look back in anger’ and stated how he wouldn’t be doing music if it were not for the local Burnage Gallagher Brothers. As expected there was a hometown eruption, with the chorus so loud that the band was barely audible beneath the more than formidable manc voices.
The night was brought to a close with ‘Waves’ the first single that brought widespread success – before a mass exodus as the excited hardcore congregated next to the artists tour bus outside, waiting for something a bit more up close and personal. Judging by the demand here in Manchester it doesn’t seem like it will be long before the Australian singer songwriter is putting on more that one night per UK city as his own particular blend of guitar pop bleeds further into the mainstream.
