Heavy Is The Head

28th March 2022

After two rescheduling due to the pandemic, Stormzy finally returned to reign over the stage at The O2 again on his Heavy Is The Head tour. A pillar of the UK music scene, his homecoming show awaited him. This was the second night at the O2 out of three. His sister, Rachael Anson warmed up the crowd. The show took me all the way back to 2019 when the album was first released. I'd actually seen Stormzy that same year at Longitude but before the album was released, so hadn't heard 90% of the album live before. I knew he was a fantastic performer but I didn't anticipate the levels he was going to reach last night with his performance.

The curtains with his album artwork drop as the band fires up and lights begin to flash, smoke begins to emerge and anticipation is high. This goes on for quite a little while, building suspense as various sequences of flashing lights and fireworks prepare the stage before the familiar beats of Big Michael begin to sound the arena. The digital screen shows a vault that slides open to reveal Stormzy right at the top on a platform, the crowd goes nuts. The platform descends, he walks out on stage greeted by an even bigger cheer. Audacious sees Stormzy rap full of energy, enveloped in multicoloured strobe lights. To bring the song to a close he raps acapella, audience chiming in.

Fire and red lights introduce Know Me From, instantly transporting the venue to 2015. He high kicks all the way from the main stage to right in the centre of the pit, he raps a verse there before returning to the main stage for the hook. Fire and fireworks accompany the last chorus before he moves into Cold from Gang Signs & Prayer, entire section evoking nostalgia. More fireworks erupt, shimmering in the air as Stormzy tells us he's "been cold the whole season." The visuals have that iPod 2006 vibe going on, Stormzy's silhouette moving to the beat, hand in hand with futuristic video effects. Handsome takes the stage next as pink and purple lights flashed on his body while he ran back to the middle of the pit. Repeating "Young, black, fly and handsome / Bun down the rave like I'm Rachael Anson" he kept the crowd's energy at a peak as the screen displayed a Stormzy cloned and mirrored mouthing the lyrics. And there was never a moment out of sync.

Back to his debut, First Things First boomed the speakers as each key word from the verse flashed on the screen after a suspenseful buildup maintained by a visual of Stormzy's metallic visage. A ring of lights began to descend as a monologue began to play while the words appeared on screen that lead into Crown, beacons of golden yellow light began to flash down as he and his backing singers sang the chorus. As they sang "heavy is the head that wears the crown," spotlights revealed a giant gold crown decorated by handwritten lyrics. His backing singers gave this regal song a choir feel. Superheroes gave this warm, comforting melody as Stormzy celebrated black excellence through rap, the crown turning from gold to silver. The O2 joined the choir for the Tracy Beaker theme tune sample as the song came to a close.

Own It saw two seductive dancing women appear on the visuals and the venue light up. Ed Sheeran made an appearance, the crowd went nuts. Fireworks followed and so did Take Me Back To London. The two close friends kept the crowding buzzing, adrenaline coursing through their veins. They both gushed about each other, Stormzy labelling Ed his best friend and Ed exclaiming how Stormzy is a beautiful human being and what an honour it is to be his friend.

His backing singers join him again for Do Better, their vocals surround his rapping like a soft blanket. There's simplicity in this performance, until the end where sparks begin to flow like a waterfall from the top of the stage. Piano cascades into Stormzy's part of Real Life by Burna Boy, a harmonious excerpt showcasing Stormzy's vocals. It acts as a transition into One Second, as HER's part is filled in by a talented backing vocalist. The lyrics of the chorus appear on the screen as the backing dancers move from side to side. The backing vocalists echoes Stormzy's outro before finishing it off with a powerful run.

Cigarettes and Cush sees the smoke on stage replaced for that of an onscreen visual. Seeing this song live felt magnificent, probably my most played of his discography throughout college. The band gave it a brassier element towards the end, the performance felt truly glorious yet heartfelt. Rachael's Little Brother spotlighted Stormzy as he walked down the path to the middle of the stage, the pace of the concert became a little more mellow. The screen showed footage of Rachael and Stormzy, video portraits would be the only way to describe the visual. At one point they were back to back as the backing singers and Stormzy sang the bridge.

Now, I really wasn't expecting to hear Lessons at all, given the inspiration for the track, but Stormzy performed the chorus with the help of the same backing singer from One Second. They repeated the chorus a few times together, before Stormzy poured his heart out on his own. You could really see the emotion in his facial expression, and tears genuinely welled up in my eyes. An intimate rush of emotions, showing us a different side of Stormzy. A song about the loss of a love, it can't be easy performing it years later when the person it's about has moved on and is now engaged.

Next, Rainfall had the entire ensemble, band and backing vocalists, walk towards the pit. The pace picked up again little by little. Stormzy had the crowd clapping as fireworks were set off behind them. The Don't Forget To Breathe Interlude was presented to the audience through a visual of a women in water, rather than a performance.

His DJ stepped into onto an ascending platform while the intro for Wiley Flow played, as he ascended on the main stage. Stormzy appeared in the middle of the pit, descending. He was really pulling out all the stops. As the beat dropped, smoke erupted on the main stage. He got off the descending platform a verse to walk down the walk way and then got up and ascended into the sky before coming back down for Clash. He was greeted by fireworks and rapped his verse, getting the crowd hype. And as Dave's lyrics from the original track sounded the speakers, "Don't get caught for puss, don't die for nyash" fire appeared a couple of times as the crowd continued to scream the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Sadly I managed to pick the one night Dave was absent, but even in his absence, Stormzy still had the crowd going crazy.

Big For Your Boots was met by fireworks, fire, flashing pink lights and an audience singing every word. That first couple of seconds in the song really takes you back five years. It ended with another fire and smoke explosion. For Shut Up he puts on heartshaped glasses, he's put us in a time machine directed 5 years back. The beat loop just did something to the crowd, whole crowd screaming "You ain't even lord of your yard!" And while Shut Up is a banger, it does surprise me that Stormzy still performs this song as it's not really a song people still listen to in this day and age, yet we still know every word as if it was 2017.

A montage of footage that one can only assume is from 2019, aka when the tour was supposed to happen, displays on the screen. Yet surprisingly it ends with words on the screen "Album 3, Coming 2022" and that it's available to preorder from the merch stand, to which the crowd cheered. Blinded By Your Grace, Pt 2 took the O2 from an arena to a church for a moment. A different backing singer came to the centre of the stage for a solo, and what a stunning solo it was, followed by prolonged fireworks.

Stormzy takes a moment to deeply thank his fans, "no cliche." He discusses how these past few years he's been getting closer to God and making music. Green lights hit the stage as Vossi Bop ensues. More fireworks light the way as Stormzy walks down to the centre stage. The entire venue screams "Fuck the government and fuck Boris!" which ultimately is one of my favourite parts of seeing him live. The final chorus is met with white confetti, brass instruments and a final fireworks display. Stormzy then takes photos with front row fans, which is quite rare for an arena show but Stormzy has always been a man of the people.

An extraordinary performance from the man himself. A performance well worth the two year wait that some have experienced. He pulled out all the stops, all the theatrics. Probably every special thing that you can do at The O2, he did. Stormzy's energy never dipped and the crowd were constantly going wild for him. Excited to see what his new album brings, this tour will be incredibly difficult to top though, that's for sure.