A night out in Los Angeles during the fall is the perfect time to go and watch a singer-songwriter work their magic on stage. And a venue like the Wiltern serves as an iconic location. It feels like an intimate space despite the venue being rather large. There is not a bad seat in the house to watch an artist bring their songs to life. Singer-songwriter Tom Odell took the stage at The Wiltern delivering a captivating set that I had the pleasure of watching.
Who Is Tom Odell?
Tom Odell is a songwriter from the U.K. The artist’s debut album, Long Way Down came out in 2013 setting him up for immense success. Over the past ten years, Tom has won numerous awards as a songwriter and musician. In the span of his career, Odell has collaborated with noteworthy artists like Kygo and AURORA. His undeniable gift of writing extremely personal lyrics accompanied by gorgeous piano arrangements has taken Tom on tours across the globe. On Monday night, fans filled The Wiltern to witness Tom’s masterpiece of a live show.
An Astounding performance
The high ceilings of The Wiltern give the venue a church-like feeling, a beautiful place to experience an artist as talented as Tom Odell. The show started with Tom at the grand piano accompanied by his three piece band. “Giving a F**k” climatically opened the set, and was so well performed that it felt worthy enough to be an encore. A mesmerizing light show that casted larger than life shadows of Tom and his band against a white curtain made a beautiful visual experience. Tom’s energy filled every inch of the room. His vocals were superb, transcending the audio versions of his songs. On stage, an evident passion consumed Tom to the point where it felt like he could hit every right key with his eyes closed. Half way through the set, Tom turned Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colours” into a beautiful piano ballad.
Tom gave his all on his final song of the night, “Hold Me.” It was the first time he got up from his piano the whole night. Despite this, Tom had the attention of every single person in the palm of his hand start to finish. Before the encore break, Odell’s inner rockstar was unleashed when he jumped on top of the piano. His infectious stage presence led to the audience singing along, thousands of voices echoing off the walls of The Wiltern. The show concluded with a five song encore leaving me speechless. Never have I witnessed a live show from a singer songwriter genre perform the way Tom has. It was quite the sight to see.
BLACK FRIDAY IS COMING
Half way through the North American leg of his tour, Odell is preparing for the release of his new album Black Friday out January 26th. During his set at the Wiltern, Tom gracefully performed the title track as well as the latest single “Somebody Else. In between songs, Tom told fans how extremely proud he is of the new record. A unique feature to Black Friday is that the songs were left as “unproduced” as possible. The “unproduced” element transcends on “Somebody Else” leaving the song sounding vulnerable. Listeners can feel the sentiment of intimacy Tom achieved while hearing the two singles. It is a release to look forward to at the start of next year.
A SHOW NOT TO BE MISSED
While Tom concludes his U.S. tour, fans can catch him and his band on the Black Friday Tour starting in March of next year. Odell’s live show is one you don’t want to miss. Watching him at his piano is something that all music lovers will appreciate. While we wait for the rest of Tom’s record to be released into the world, we can enjoy the singles he has already given listeners.
Are you excited for Black Friday?
