Lauren Spencer Smith: Mirror Tour 28/09/2023

1.  Never Been In Love
2.  Bigger Person
3.  Best Friend Breakup
4.  Narcissist
5.  Back To Friends
6.  Rolling In The Deep (Adele cover)
7.  Fingers Crossed
8.  For Granted
9.  Fantasy
10.  What Makes You Beautiful (One Direction cover)
11.  Love Is An Overstatement
12.  Too Hurt To Fall In Love
13.  That Part
14.  Aftermath
15.  28
16.  Sad Forever (Encore)
17.  Flowers (Encore)
18.  Do It All Again (Encore)

I booked to see Wheatus in Glasgow on Wednesday and Muse in Manchester on Friday, which left me with a gaping hole in my schedule on Thursday night. Any sensible person would use this time to rest (especially on two or three hours sleep) but I was full of adrenaline and eager to find something else to do. I was constantly keeping an eye on my phone for alerts from Twickets, after signing up for a spare Lauren Spencer Smith ticket. I had never used Twickets before but realised it was definitely my best option for securing a ticket at this late stage. Every time I got alerted there were tickets for sale I would rush on to the website to find they were already gone, in seconds. I hadn’t actually heard of LSS until I started planning my Manchester trip and looked her up on Spotify, so was puzzled why her tickets were in such high demand. It turned out (as well as having a huge fan base) it was her birthday! That explained why so many people were determined to get their hands on tickets for this event, in particular. The queue was absolutely massive when I showed up before 6pm (doors opened an hour later) and the girls I bought the ticket from let me join them, which was really kind of them. One of their friends couldn’t make it, so they adopted me for the night. They had travelled all the way from Wales and were planning on driving home again after the concert. They said there would be people coming from all over the world. That’s dedication for you!

We were let in more or less on time and the venue filled up very quickly. A few people were wearing party hats in the front rows, which was funny and creative. They must have been queuing for hours to get right to the very front. Pop songs were blasting over the speakers and hundreds of people were singing along at full volume. I felt compelled to record some of it because it was unlike anything I had ever heard, before the show even started. Geena Fontanella graced the stage first and put everyone in an even better mood, if that was possible. She clearly had her fair share of fans in the crowd too, as a lot of people were wearing her t-shirts and screaming along to every word of her set. She powered through her new song ‘Loser’, which I felt hit a bit close to home to enjoy fully! She asked how many of us still live with our mums and a good number of people raised their hands. She then asked how many of us are over twenty-five and most people kept their hands in the air, which made me feel a lot more at ease. She assured us living with our parents is just being financially responsible! The song reminded me of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ after hearing it the night before and she actually sang a snippet of it before leading back into the chorus, which was amazing! That also made me feel a lot less out of place, dressed in my Wheatus t-shirt. She also encouraged us to vote for whether she should sing a Billie Eilish or Olivia Rodrigo cover. Hardly anyone had any signal to vote online, so she got us to scream loudly for who we wanted her to cover. It was close but Olivia Rodrigo won in the end. I think the crowd made the best choice because her rendition of ‘Good For You’ went down extremely well. Something tells me she could have sung the alphabet and everyone would still have been enthralled because her voice is so good. There’s something about GF which really draws you in and I think she did a perfect job of opening the show.

Henry Moodie came on next, after a short while. He is only eighteen years old but has a spectacular voice and impressive talent for playing instruments such as the keyboard and guitar. He also writes his own songs as far as I can tell, which is admirable at such a young age. Google tells me he has over five million TikTok followers, which is difficult to fathom. I don’t have TikTok but it’s hard to go through a day without hearing about it because it’s all the rage right now and a good way for videos to go viral. I didn’t know his material either but most of his songs were very easy to get into and quickly memorise the lyrics. He also covered ‘Night Changes’ by One Direction and ‘Blank Space’ by Taylor Swift, which were excellent choices and not the usual covers you hear of their songs. Fans held up stuffed toy cows to catch his attention when he came closer to them, which appear to be associated with him in some way. They also had one or two on the stage with them. I will need to listen to his songs again to try and figure out the reference, if there is one. He also treated us to an unreleased song, which I’m sure he told us was called ‘Poison’. I wish there were more YouTube uploads from the night as I can’t find much content at all. I would like to go back and re-live the experience, especially since ‘Poison’ has not been officially released and I don’t remember it very well. He asked us to “drop him a DM” if we liked it, so maybe we will see it on streaming platforms soon. My favourite songs of his were ‘drunk text’ and ‘you were there for me’ (both stylised in lower case letters), which are by far his top two listened to songs on Spotify.

The crowd erupted in screams when LSS came out and for good reason because she was incredible. I noticed I was one of the only people clapping and felt very old at that moment. Do people not do that anymore? Everyone just seems to screech their lungs out instead. Maybe it’s come from years of people having their hands too full to applaud, since we are always holding our phones and pointing them at the stage. She stood on top of a podium/set of steps for her first song which was very aesthetically pleasing and made for good photos. The show concluded in the same way, with everyone in similar poses, which I thought was a nice touch. She interacted with the crowd a lot throughout the night and at one point asked a couple to tell us how they met etc. The woman said her fiancé was a bouncer at Wetherspoons and a lot of people appreciated the shout-out to the beloved pub. She gave them matching sleeves to wear when they were done reminiscing (I didn’t see them but I’m sure that’s what she said) and they had massive grins on their faces when they returned to their original spot beside me. The crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ at the conclusion of ‘Narcissist’ and the crew and opening acts brought out a chocolate cake after ‘Fingers Crossed’, which LSS was obviously not expecting as they were already beginning the next song. She said her new album has a “sad vibe” but she wanted to do a happy song since it was her birthday, so she chose ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ by One Direction – one of her favourite British boy bands. There was a lot of 1D love throughout the night. She told us ‘Too Hurt To Fall In Love’ is possibly her favourite song from her new album ‘Mirror’ and she wrote it in the UK. She also did a rare song for us – the delicate ‘For Granted’, which a fan asked her to sing on tour via a gifted fortune cookie. She talked about how she cries a lot but there is nothing wrong with doing so and how turning twenty feels strange to her because it means she is not a teenager anymore. Her voice gave me goosebumps and the songs are very emotional. The lyrics are very easy to relate to and she had everybody on her side, cheering her on.

It was very hot in the venue and several people were falling ill and passing out. They had to stop the music a number of times in order to make sure everyone was okay and the staff were handing out an appropriate amount of water (which they definitely weren’t). It wasn’t as hot as Brixton but I was glad to get out of there in the end. A whole bunch of us flocked into The Co-Op beside the venue for drinks and snacks afterwards which was hilarious but probably terrified the staff. I’m so happy I made the decision to go and was lucky enough to get a ticket at the last minute. I think this was the first time I bought a ticket on the same day of the event happening and it was a thrilling experience and made me appreciate it all even more. It was also my first time where it was the birthday of the lead singer (though I’ve come close a few times) and it was certainly a special show because of it, with unusual song-choices and plenty of celebrations onstage. I’m not sure how I didn’t know about these excellent musicians before as I am always looking for new music. GF and LSS were both on the eighteenth season of ‘American Idol’ and I don’t watch TV anymore (though I am a fan of Kelly Clarkson), so that probably has a lot to do with my lack of knowledge. I’m surprised to find out they didn’t place higher in the show and LSS touring the country and creating a successful album just proves her likeability and talent. I have been listening to her music a lot more since Thursday and would absolutely consider seeing her when she next tours the UK.