Sam Smith concert review: ‘Fort Worth, tonight is about one thing ... freedom’
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With a devilish wink, Sam Smith delivered a soaring celebration of nonconformity and sexual freedom Thursday night at Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena.
The one-hour, 40-minute concert’s 20-song set included seven tracks from Smith’s fourth album, “Gloria,” released in January.
Those themes were evident from the opening moments, when a massive gold sculpture of Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, was revealed, and Smith appeared from behind wearing a glittery gold corset over a white dress shirt and black tie, shiny silver slacks, and four-inch platform silver boots that would make Kiss’ Gene Simmons envious.
The giant stage prop, reclined on her side, stretched the length of the stage and served as a riser for the band and dancers.
Smith, who turned 31 in May, opened with “Stay With Me,” the smash hit from the artist’s 2014 debut album. The song was the subject of a copyright lawsuit for its perceived similarities to Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Smith and co-writers eventually settled the suit in 2015, giving Petty and Jeff Lynne a percentage of the royalties and co-writing credit. But I didn’t get it then, and after hearing Smith perform it on Thursday, it’s still confounding. Except for a vaguely similar chord progression, the songs are hardly alike and have completely different feels and vibes. Even as a huge fan of Petty’s work, the copyright assertion always seemed unwarranted.
But credit Smith for jumping right into what is arguably the English singer-songwriter’s most well-known song.
The plaintive ballad about battling loneliness despite an overactive sex life still rings true and had the crowd of about 10,000 instantly singing along.
“Everyone who is dressed up right now, you look ... incredible,” Smith said early in the evening. “To everyone in this room, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for sticking around. Honestly, it means the world. I love it here. It’s (expletive) hot. I’ve been trapped inside for two days because I will burn. You don’t want to see me naked and burned, I promise you. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be fully naked.”
But, boy did Smith come close by the end of the show. More on that in a moment.
The theme of the 31-date North American leg of the tour, which, after Friday’s show in Houston, concludes with four shows in Mexico, slowly segued from earnest, emotional moments, such as a stirring vocal turn on “Kissing You,” complete with piano and taped strings, to an increasingly ratcheted ode to sexual debauchery that included Smith in a variety of lavish costumes and eventually increasing states of undress.
“We want you to go away tonight with one thing in your heart. You have to know, Fort Worth, tonight is about one thing, it’s about freedom,” Smith said. “So please, everyone, enjoy yourself. Don’t take it too seriously. Have fun, make friends. Let’s sing together, let’s dance together, let’s take our tops off.”
Smith, who identifies as non-binary, had a new outfit for nearly every song. At various moments, Smith was in a formal gown, a white puffy, pirate-looking blouse, an all-black biker outfit with cowboy hat, and a gigantic Liberace-styled pink ruffled robe.
By the five-song finale, Smith was, indeed, topless with fishnet stockings, bikini briefs, and pasties over their nipples. Four of the six dancers surrounded Smith during a taped remixed version of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” which had the androgynous dancers taking off Smith’s shirt by the song’s end.
Three of the final five songs were covers, including Disclosure’s “Latch” in which Smith was featured, and Madonna’s “Human Nature.”
Musically, these choices seem more about their subject matter and the stage show and less about Smith as a singer.
But peppered into the provocative “gay cabaret,” as Smith exclaimed before finishing the evening with “Unholy,” were some soaring vocal moments, including, “Gloria,” the title track from which the tour gets its name.
“Be yourself so loud tonight, they’ll hear you from the stars, sparkling like dynamite, if that is who you are (it’s who you are),” Smith wailed, underlining that underneath all of the debauchery and decadence, is the desire to feel comfortable and accepted in your own skin.
Sam Smith setlist in Fort Worth, Sept. 7, 2023:
Stay with Me
I’m Not the Only One
Like I Can
Too Good at Goodbyes
Perfect (with Jessie Reyez)
Diamonds
How Do You Sleep?
Dancing With a Stranger
Kissing You
Lay Me Down
Love Goes
Gimme (with Reyez)
Lose You
Promises
I’m Not Here to Make Friends
Latch
I Feel Love
Gloria
Human Nature
Unholy
