The buzz around Tom Grennan has certainly been building for a while now, with the Bedford born singer-songwriter appearing on almost every sound of 2017 list.

Standing confidently in front of a sold out Bush Hall in his trademark DM loafers with white socks, the 21 year old kicks things off with ‘Old Songs’, a raw and emotional story of adultery which showcases his natural song writing skills.

Moving through ‘Barbed Wire’ and ‘Sweet Hallelujah’, the crowd watch on as Tom gets in his stride, his husky voice demanding the undivided attention from revellers.

Between songs, you can sense Tom’s comfort, with this being somewhat of a homecoming gig for him, interacting with the crowd as if they were old friends, even at one point acknowledging his mum on the shoulders of one gig-goer which received huge cheers from the crowd.

‘Praying’ leaves the audience trying to match Tom’s compelling vocals and then comes the stripped back version of ‘All Goes Wrong’, the Chase and Status track which gave Tom a taste of chart success in late 2016. No disappointment here either with an emotionally charged performance encouraging the crowd to holler along to the chorus.

Jesting about “doing one of them things where we go off then come back and all that shit”, Tom returns for an encore of ‘Listen’ which is sure to be the next single.

Despite Tom’s relatively short music career, it was clear from the start that he’s a class act with passion, a great stage presence and a knack for song writing.  In terms of breakthrough male vocalists, Rag’n’Bone Man has certainly stolen the show so far in 2017 but is it too much to make the comparison? Watch this space…

Carl Darnell