There’s a welcome familiarity to Holly Humberstone as she skips out in front of a sold-out Hammersmith Apollo crowd with a bashful wave. However, this is a very different 24-year-old from the one who debuted four years ago.
Armed with a stunning debut album, the star takes the size of the crowd in her stride through the tender opening of ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’ – “With the windows down, I am reborn,” she coos.
Yet behind the new material, which is largely her best yet, is the same bashful Holly Humberstone. “This is f***ing wild,” she blurts out before floating from one side to the other over the thudding production of ‘Into Your Room’.
Next, the star throws back time as she swings a guitar over her head for early smash ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’. Those early ditties are effortlessly endearing and soon she’s inviting the 5,000-strong London audience for “a Couple more tequilas” during ‘Overkill’ as if you’re one-on-one in a dive bar.
The Holly Humberstone Show is peppered with moments of euphoria but it’s at its most extraordinary when the singer’s songwriting is at the forefront. She is known to strive for every lyric to be perfect for a tattoo and the tracks which drip with Taylor Swift-esque detail meet that brief.
‘London is Lonely’ is delivered with just a piano and is an obvious standout as bedroom musings fill the huge stage. ‘Kissing in Swimming Pools’ is another lullaby moment that sweeps silence over the Apollo.
At the opposite end of those moments are tracks such as ‘Antichrist’. Arguably Humberstone’s most ambitious flick, the star’s edited vocal ricochets around the building. Another quirky highlight comes as opener Medium Build returns to the stage to duet on ‘Cocoon’ as the coarse and tender vocals make for a surprisingly convincing unison.
The night ends on ‘Scarlett’, the type of track an artist can spend a lifetime trying to write. The anthem has filled arenas, stadiums and huge festival sets already and is delivered with that same grandeur on Wednesday night to close a landmark evening for the impressive Holly Humberstone.
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