We're All Alone In This Together

5th March 2022

It was experiencing Dave’s BRITs performance that was the catalyst in getting tickets for his tour. I dismissed the idea when tickets were released at first because I’d seen him at Parklife, but when I saw him at the BRITs I knew his tour was going to be special. I was actually supposed to see him at The O2 on the second date, but due to Storm Eunice forcing him to reschedule, it clashed with another one of my concerts so I had to find another way. I picked Newcastle, doubt I’ll be seeing more concerts at this arena though as the organisation to get people into the building was pretty poor and they took our tickets off us too. But nonetheless, we still scored front row.

The show began with a cinematic short film of what seemed to be a re-enactment of Dave’s youth, there was the sound of a leader countdown before We’re All Alone In This Together flashed up on the screen. There was an elaborate guitar solo before Dave emerged and kicked the night off with Verdansk. The tone of theatrics was set in this first song, a loud bang followed by smoke accompanied by flashing lights and visuals that mirrored the colour of the lights.

“Newcastle!!!!” He shouts as Professor X starts to play, you can tell how excited he is to perform. Just before he starts “tweakin’, tweakin’” glittery fireworks silently explode in an upward trajectory. The entire venue is reciting along as the words bounce out of Dave’s mouth and into the mic. Dave gleefully shuffles his shoulders to the beat. He runs up and down the stage motioning gratefulness, as he again shouts “Newcastle!” He thanks everyone for coming, tells us he loves and says that tonight should be a celebration as it’s Saturday. We’re in for a party. He launches into Titanium as blue lights jump across the stage. The pace felt a little slower, a little more mellow. He then went on to tell us about where he was from with Streatham as the screens behind him displayed a montage of his hometown. The song choice felt personal, we were starting to see Dave’s personality shine through and this was just the beginning.

The show continues with Psycho from Psychodrama, fireworks erupt and fire blasts on stage as Dave expresses a whirlwind of emotions. Piano ensues and he’s pouring his heart out with conviction. Flashing lights follow as the band starts to play a little heavier. The whole crowd is locked in. Disaster follows, J Hus’ lyrics flash in red on the screen as a red spotlight follows Dave running around on stage. He pauses the show to tell us how he doesn’t feel nervous, that he feels he’s around family. He launches into a speech about fear, “I feel like there’s two types of fear. I feel like there’s good fear and I feel like there’s a bad fear,” and that “what we have to try and do is chase our good fears and ignore our bad fears.” He begins to list examples of each when he thinks he sees someone needs a bit of help, then he realises someone is showing him a tattoo of himself, “oh my god, it is me!” He resumes his speech to introduce a song that came from a good fear which is Screwface Capital. It starts to feel like we’re watching his Psychodrama tour, though it is appreciated as I’m sure we haven’t all seen him on his previous tour, myself included. It’s here when I realise there is no better combination than piano and Dave. A force to be reckoned with that feels somewhat effortless, nonchalant. Drums chime in towards the end for a strong finish as Dave disappears down the stairs of the middle of the stage.

The entire pit is forced to turn around as he appears on a second stage in the middle of the arena. He takes us all the way back with Wanna Know and a sea of phones in the air emerges. Towards the end, Dave goes completely acapella for the final verse laden with alliteration. The lights go pink for Samantha. The lights on that stage are in two circles, one much smaller than the other. The bigger one sinks down and they both have multiple panels that flash rapidly as he raps. No Words is next, Dave wraps the venue in a warm blanket of nostalgia in this section. The band begin to play Seven Nation Army as the crowd chants “Oh, Thiago Silva” and the next moments echoed that viral Glastonbury moment. He has to test the crowd twice to find a stand-in for AJ Tracey. He picks a young girl who looks stricken with nerves and reiterates his “good fear and bad fear” sentiments. He reassures her off mic, and then launches into the song. We’re all rooting for her as we rap along with Dave, the volume in the venue increases massively. Unfortunately the microphone doesn’t seem to be working as we can only hear Dave. He puts his arm around her, then raps with her facing opposite her. It feels like a glorious moment, or what should’ve been and definitely would’ve if only the mic was working. When he finishes he gets her to rap into his mic as she deserves to be heard, her voice is shaken with nerves, she’s bottled it but honestly I think that was the pressure of doing it without any music. We cheer her nonetheless, and Dave vanishes off stage as we face our front.

Green lights and backing vocalists take the stage, moving from side to side as the band begin to play a percussion loaded introduction to Lazarus. The singers begin to sing in Yoruba and eventually walk to form a line towards the back of the stage. The stage goes black as the we hear the ticking from Lazarus begin, lights start flashing and Dave pops up rapping with high energy. While the backing singers take care of the chorus, Dave greets each side again. In the final chorus, sparks fly and Dave is shuffling on stage. The band is more prevalent, the singers step forward for a big finish. System follows, Dave is running all over the stage. The backing singers are dancing in harmony to the beat. There are good vibrations bouncing off the walls of the venue.

A piano has surfaced on stage and he tells us how his mum bought him a piano at 14. It was the same piano on stage and it cost his mum her whole paycheck, but boy was it an investment that paid off. He begins to play the piano, shuffling through his repertoire. Starting with Black he “forgets” how to play it, he laughs the same way his character in Top Boy, Modie does, and says “That is so funny!” He brushes through a couple more piano intros before landing on Twenty To One. This moment feels somber yet it still elevated the studio version higher: band, backing singers and all. He finishes the last chorus acapella, which really forces you to pay attention to his performance. It’s just him and nothing else, but everyone is fixated, hanging on his every word.

He plays Law of Attraction “just for the ladies”, Snoh isn’t there but the crowd and backing singer’s filled in just fine. The chorus is met by cymbals and the stage is warmed by pink lights. Someone’s thrown novelty, way-too-big sunglasses on stage and Dave’s put them on for a brief moment before he plays electric guitar. He’s played a beautiful, solo intro to Both Sides Of A Smile which indicates he’s definitely been practicing since his BRITs performance. Smoke fills the stage, lights flash and more footage is displayed on the screen however the screen isn’t as opaque anymore, revealing the band behind the visuals. ShaSimone’s spoken word was met by the cries of women in the audience reciting the lyrics, words so painstakingly relatable. Noticeably a lot quieter than viral videos London shows though. Red confetti in the shape of petals flies down from the sky as Dave plays a guitar outro.

He performs a solo rendition of In The Fire next, which while this is missing four features, you never notice. His presence is so strong you’d have thought it was his song alone. The chorus builds up with the help of the backing singers and then Dave is giving us another extraordinary guitar solo followed by fire shooting up again on stage. Funky Friday gets the crowd hyped, flashing lights, Fredo’s lyrics blinking on the screen. Fireworks kick off Dave’s abbreviations. Location was the penultimate song, various holiday locations appeared on the screen. This song just feels like summer, really looking forward to seeing Dave’s festival set at Longitude as the vibes of this song are so much bigger than an arena. But that isn’t to say he didn’t give us a fantastic performance, because he definitely did. Lastly, Clash took centre stage. An explosion, strobe lights and fire accompanied him on stage, they definitely more than made up for the lack of Stormzy. “Don’t get caught for puss / Don’t die for nyash” was screamed energetically by everyone in the room as fireworks and smoke went up into the air like a rocket. The next chorus was followed by another glittery firework and more fire. Dave rolled onto the stage, sitting down, taking it all in. As Dave thanked us for coming, more fireworks erupted, red and white confetti followed. Dave told us he loved us before walking off stage.

What a show. The fireworks and visuals really brought everything together. Dave’s energy never ever made you miss an absent feature artist. He ran laps around the stage as the audience rapped with him bar for bar. His personality really shone through on this tour, we really got to know him better. That’s all you can ask for really, on tour. You want to feel something beaming off the artist that’s authentic and Dave definitely implemented that. I don’t think anyone in the room felt alone, but we definitely felt in this together. Dave made sure of it, and what a glorious job he did.