With the call to unapologetically take up space sitting front and centre of Sam Smith’s ballgowns and bondage-clad Gloria tour, the point was cemented quite literally last night by the gigantic 20ft golden cherub that sprawled across the width of The O2 Arena’s stage. As Smith entered from a trapdoor situated atop its naked buttocks, it set the scene for a show that revelled in flamboyance; an explosion of celebratory queer theatricality set in three acts (labelled as Love, Beauty and Sex) that transcended the Radio 2-friendly balladry of much of the singer’s pre-Gloria wares.
The more melancholy tone of those tracks, Stay With Me and To Die For among them, felt at odds with the smiling, radiantly positive presence of Smith themself. Dressed initially in gold platform boots and a bejewelled, chandelier-like corset, encouraging the crowd to “let their inner freak fly”, the pivot to the meditative Too Good at Goodbyes felt somewhat anticlimactic to the sentiment.
