Prior to the opening night of this tour, Sam Smith told fans they had been “gearing up for this show my whole life”, calling the “gay cabaret” they had mounted in support of latest album Gloria “the show of my dreams”. On the opening night in Sheffield, the stage reveals a giant gold Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, before Smith pops up in a sparkly number and sailor’s hat.
But rather than start with a song from Gloria – an album rooted in queer identity and experience – Smith opens with 2014 lovelorn mega-hit Stay With Me. It feels symbolic of Smith’s vast transformation since then. “A lot has happened in the last five years,” they say tonight, emotionally, of a period that involved coming out as non-binary.
