Sam Tompkins — 07/10/26

Friend and collaborator Jacky buoyed up the tiered audience in Camden’s Victorian theatre, KOKO, before Tompkins’ appearance, with an organic stage presence and honeyed voice, bringing a natural charisma easy to be swayed by.

Last night had the potential to feel heavy and sombre, though it seems Sam Tompkins was keen to start his set with energy and joy, and to largely keep it that way. In the frenetic opener ‘CRAWLING OUT MY SKIN’, he embodies the song in his flaunted movements, producing a high-tempo, high-impact intro to the evening met with enthusiastic reception. Joy is also what he produced, from the couple dancing with contagious smiles in one of the boxes, to the abundance of singing in the crowd that Tompkins was so eager to hear. Iterations of ‘sing along’ were repeated throughout the night – though some of those high notes were so high, he was left to hit them on his own.

Tompkins sings with such little visible effort that at times, it’s hard to compute that the person moving around the stage is the one whose voice we’re listening to. Tompkins hits incredible vocal runs like it doesn’t cost him a penny, perhaps a little too often for the impact to be felt fully with each one. He performs a cover of ‘How To Save A Life’, recently released on the album’s deluxe. With so much movement within Tompkins’ voice across the song to follow, the impact of the original’s simplicity is removed — an unpopular opinion, it’s worth mentioning, since the track has gone exponentially viral on social media and was also praised by The Fray themselves.

Tompkins’ points frequently to familiar faces in the front rows, and there’s a strong sense of camaraderie in the galleries from a large contingent of whooping and heckling friends and family. ‘I’m basically a tribute act to her’, Tompkins says of his girlfriend in the audience, dedicating a number of songs, including the timelessly romantic ‘LASSO THE MOON’. The evening is surprisingly boisterous, and Tompkins performs with energy and vigour, though there is a sense of waiting for ‘the serious part’ to come in too.

The album’s title, ‘ARE WE GONNA SING?’, is taken from an old home recording of Tompkins’ late father, who the record is dedicated to and in part written about losing. Tompkins credits Jacky, a ‘best mate’, with the idea for the album’s name, and he imparts an emotional thank you for giving the project a renewed purpose, and for his hand in constructing it, before playing ‘LIVE WHERE I DON’T LOSE YOU’, which ends with the original audio of his father’s voice.

Just before, Tompkins belts out a roar of grief, much closer to a primal scream than any musical note, and it’s felt in the bones and goosebumps of his audience. We go from watching someone’s talent to feeling someone’s raw emotion, with hands wiping eyes across the venue, and it’s strange to think that the evening’s standout moment came from a fantastic vocalist’s most imperfect singing.

Returning to the stage for a short encore, Sam performs a bouncing ‘BEAUTY QUEEN’ to lift the spirits, before introducing his final track, ‘HEATED SEATS’. A supportive audience cheer him into the song as he tearfully explains its personal significance, then devoured in its live essence. At his KOKO show, Tompkins’ grief is not pushed to the side, nor does it overwhelm him, and there’s something beautifully moving about experiencing the singer’s sadness with him, alongside his joy, as he allows himself to be so vulnerable on such an exposed platform, and for us to witness it.