Tom A. Smith at Lower Third In London — Small Stage, Striking Impact
Tom A. Smith and band, backstage at his headline London show with TOPNOTE. Image credit: Ellie Majumdar
Click your heels together three times if you want to go home. ‘I just had monkfish!’ Tom A. Smith exclaims to his sold-out London crowd. You’re not in Sunderland anymore…
If David Bowie, The Smiths, Yungblud and Talking Heads got in the studio together, the output might sound something like Tom A. Smith. Naturally, then, it’s ‘Road To Nowhere’ that ripples through the room, before a polka-dot clad singer makes his way onto the stage, briefly warmed up for him by a suave, blazered band.
Tom A. Smith is heading to the end of his UK tour. Blending post-punk attitude, rock swagger, raw indie storytelling, and pop hooks, the young musician is cherry-picking elements from each genre and flipping them into something that’s made for the modern world, undeniably inspired by what’s come before. Featured in our emerging artist list for 2026, he’s already played Glastonbury and supported Elton John. Along the way, he’s picked up praise from Iman Bowie, Morrissey, and plenty of other influential names… and surely whiplash from the relentless back-and-forth between the studio and the stage.
Ahead of a new EP out next week, TOPNOTE went down to The Lower Third in Soho’s Denmark Street to see the North East musician’s headline show. Read on for our review – and check out our photos of the night.
Tom A. Smith live at The Lower Third. Image Credit: Ellie Majumdar
Openers Hunny Buzz entertained the crowd with terrible jokes and great charisma, a smart palette cleanser between angst-heavy, guitar-thrashing tracks that won the audience over by the end of their set.
“Between expressions and spotlights, his face flicks from teenager to young man and back again, with a tangible sense in the set’s finale of an artist incredibly aware he is on the last vestige of boyhood… of a life ‘before’ whatever comes next. ”
‘The energy Tom puts into his performance could solve an energy crisis’ – shared one audience member last night; and it’s hard to conjure a more apt description for the boundless shapes, poses, expressions and interaction that’s squeezed onto a tiny stage. It’s an energy that for some reason hasn’t yet caught onto a younger crowd – the audience heavily populated by a more mature, predominantly male demographic, with a handful of hardcore punk hairstyles sported.
Smith clearly taps into something that resonates with an older generation; perhaps a fearlessness of being perceived, a complete commitment to showmanship, and an old-school sound; down to the wired microphone that he warps and winds as part of a captivating persona. Unlike his 80s influences however, his eyes find the filming phones, and he plays up to them.
With drums felt from the floor up, each supporting band member fully invested in their own performance, and a Cheshire Cat smile, the audience was putty in Smith’s hands. Unprompted, undulating chants at the end of an unreleased track echo early performances of Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’’s crowd-carried outro – the start of a song that’s already being taken over by its audience.
The mid-section of the gig loses pace and attention; the 21-year-old has not been an artist long enough to create a setlist that levels up to his best songs, ‘I Don’t Blame You’, ‘Fashion’, and upcoming standout single, ‘Put On A Record Tommy’ – the title track off his upcoming EP. But when he does play these, there are twinklings of stardom… easy to wonder if you’re watching a fantastic cover of a song you’ve somehow never heard before.
For latest single ‘SFX’, Smith embodies the confidence of a golden-era rockstar. It’s interesting to learn the song was penned on the universality of ‘finding it hard to ignore your own insecurities’, offering ‘three minutes where I can dance and feel a bit better about myself, so hopefully anyone listening can do the same.’
“Yesterday’s show was like watching a rehearsal for something designed for a bigger stage – the same way it feels oddly intimate to watch a household-name pop up at an underground comedy club to practice new material.”
The stage presence is already there, near fully-formed, and tempered with the right dose of confidence and humility. For all the performance (and the show is carried by it), it’s clear that Smith is really enjoying himself. Between expressions and spotlights, his face flicks from teenager to young man and back again, with a tangible sense in the set’s finale of an artist incredibly aware he is on the last vestige of boyhood… of a life ‘before’ whatever comes next.
Yesterday’s show was like watching a rehearsal for something designed for a bigger stage – the same way it feels oddly intimate to watch a household-name pop up at an underground comedy club to practice new material. Standing at the far end of the basement room, it won’t be long before audience members the same distance back will count themselves lucky to be so close to the stage. Tom A. Smith is surely in for a lot more faces shouting back his songs… and a lot more monkfish.