Prior to the opening night of this tour, Sam Smith told fans they had been “gearing up for this show my whole life”, calling the “gay cabaret” they had mounted in support of latest album Gloria “the show of my dreams”. On the opening night in Sheffield, the stage reveals a giant gold Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, before Smith pops up in a sparkly number and sailor’s hat.
But rather than start with a song from Gloria – an album rooted in queer identity and experience – Smith opens with 2014 lovelorn mega-hit Stay With Me. It feels symbolic of Smith’s vast transformation since then. “A lot has happened in the last five years,” they say tonight, emotionally, of a period that involved coming out as non-binary.
It also feels like an underwhelmingly traditional beginning for a show billed as a three-act journey through sections titled Love, Beauty and Sex: emotive yet plodding piano ballads; ostentatious guitar solos; the band huddling up for the sit-down acoustic section. Despite the grandness of Aphrodite looming over the stage, things feel static and sluggish. Thankfully, any feeling of lost hope about the theatrical premise dissipates around the halfway mark.
Dancers start grinding wildly over Aphrodite, as drums explode punchily during Gimme. I’m Not Here to Make Friends is a welcome, infectious disco groove with Smith’s vocal delivery elevated by clear joy. Disclosure collaboration Latch is a pleasingly garish blast of EDM before a choreographed dance routine to Donna Summer’s I Feel Love. Rainbow lasers shoot to the sky as dancers rip Smith’s shirt straight off their body.
Themes of joy and self-love, delivered via a roaring queer party, continue into the final act. Covering Madonna’s Human Nature, Smith buoyantly sings “express yourself, don’t repress yourself” while shirtless in leather shorts and fishnets – it’s a powerful moment of proudly owning and reclaiming a body that has been subject to bullying.
The finale is a supercharged sexualised romp. All leather, sweat, ferocious gyrating and Smith’s cheekily exposed bare arse. It reaches a riotous close with the 2022 smash single Unholy, as flames erupt and Smith emerges with devil horns and a fork. While those prone to complaining to Ofcom might see this as a descent into a world of sin and hellfire, for Smith, breaking free of tradition feels like heaven.
• Sam Smith is at the O2 Arena, London, on 18 April, then touring
