LIVE: Tom Odell - Hollywood Forever, Los Angeles 06.05.16

In an intimate room hidden away in Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles – the final resting place of notable directors, writers and stars of the silver screen – Tom Odell has the whole crowd completely under his spell with ‘Constellations’. A simple piano number in-between his other more energetic songs, he takes a swig of whiskey and as soon as he’s sung the first verse the atmosphere in the room has completely changed.

His voice rings out over the enthralled silence and it just feels… special. With one song he has the whole room completely mesmerised, a song which makes you feel like that’s exactly where you’re supposed to be. A song powerful enough to make everyone in that room feel something – so as the soft lyrics ring out, “The piano man is playing some old melody, don’t mean much to anyone but it does to you and me…”, everyone can agree that this piano guy’s melody has them falling hook, line and sinker in love with his new material.

It’s been three years since Tom’s debut album, Long Way Down, was released, but as he showcases his new tracks from upcoming album Wrong Crowd it’s like he’s never been away. He has the room going wild as he powerfully belts out old chart hits ‘Another Love’, ‘Can’t Pretend’ and ‘Hold Me’ – the last in which he serenades an awestruck member of the front row – but it’s punchy new tracks ‘Magnetised’ and ‘Concrete’ that get a warm welcome too.

As he takes a breather mid-set, he introduces another new song, ‘Jealousy’, by recalling the story behind it, cracking everybody up while he describes a “sort of rockstar” that his girlfriend at the time was hanging around with that he thought was “a bit of a twat” – classic Brit. While everyone wonders who this rockstar could be, he plunges into a slow number that has the crowd swooning and swaying along to the soothing chords and soft vocals, and you realise that part of Tom’s charm is that he’s a fantastic storyteller, keeping everyone completely mesmerised by his carefully penned lyrics and composition.

But the main thing that strikes you is that although you’d think it would be, Tom Odell isn’t putting on a one-man show – his band are incredible. Not only do they look like they’re genuinely enjoying themselves and living the dream on-stage, but the remarkable backing vocalist is a talent all on her own, providing impressive falsetto and energetic percussion to really make those tracks pop.

As each up-tempo song builds to its crescendo it’s a tight group effort, and it’s as if the whole crowd melts away leaving them completely jamming out together like a bunch of close friends just having fun and enjoying the music that they make together. It’s that camaraderie that really makes the night something else, and as Tom runs through the crowd to wrap up his encore leaving his band going crazy on stage, you’re left with the feeling that this is going to be one of those nights that you won’t ever forget.