Sam Smith Took Down the Walls For Soul-Bearing Show of Their New York City Residency: 5 Best Moments
For just over a decade, Sam Smith has been extremely, unquestionably popular. Between their billions of streams, seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits and five Grammy Awards, the English singer-songwriter has routinely sold out global arena tours, bringing their somber singing voice to massive crowds around the world.
Yet on Wednesday night (Oct. 15), Smith was not singing to a roaring crowd of 20,000 inside of a massive arena. Standing on the stage at Warsaw, the unassuming concert hall in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, Smith peered out at a crowd of mere hundreds. And they looked thrilled.
“I have been touring so much, since the age of 21. I went from playing in venues of this size to playing in arenas in one year — it was really f–king intense,” they told the hushed audience. “I stayed in those arenas for nearly 10 years, and it was a really amazing experience, and I love singing in those rooms … but my favorite shows, and the ones that changed me as an artist were the gigs that were shared in rooms like this, that are built for music.”
It’s fitting, then, that “built for music” could have been the tagline for Wednesday night’s edition of Smith’s To Be Free: New York City residency at Warsaw. Spanning a whopping 24 dates at the trusted local concert hall, the new show sees Smith pulling down the artistic scaffolding that they’ve constructed over the last decade and change. There’s no gimmicks, no glitz, no sets, no costumes; just Sam Smith, a small live band and their larger-than-life voice.
Over the course of two hours, Smith ran the gamut of their catalog, weaving in unreleased songs that fans haven’t had the chance to hear yet, covers of pop classics from throughout history and well-loved B-sides, while also making sure to give their eager audience the hits that they came to hear. Below, Billboard takes a look at the five best moments from Sam Smith’s remarkable, intimate performamce:
