TWENTY-year-old, South-African Australian singer Troye Sivan hit Manchester Academy last night (April 18) as part of his European tour. Quays News entertainment reporter Niamh Shackleton went along…
Sivan came on the the UK’s radar after his 2014 single ‘Happy Little Pill’ and personally came onto my radar after his single ‘Youth’ was BBC Radio 1’s “track of the day”. It was surprising to see Sivan had a much bigger fanbase than expected, with queues trailing outside the Academy. Ages ranged from young school girls, to University students, proving he reaches out to a mainly younger audience.
Supporting Sivan was 19-year-old Astrid Smeplass from Norway – she goes by the stage name Astrid S. She has previously won the award for the ‘Best Norwegian Act’ at the MTV European Music Awards in 2015, following her success on the Norwegian version of Pop Idol in 2013.
Astrid S was a brilliant warm up act for Sivan, hyping up the group with her upbeat style music with hints of deep house. The singer had quite an Ellie Goulding feel about her, both vocally and had a great energy on the stage similar to the way Goulding does. Keep an eye out for her music coming more to the UK!
After Astrid S’ fantastic warm-up, Sivan came on stage at 9pm when some of the girls in attendance were starting to partially deafen people in the crowd due to screaming at the top of their lungs. Sivan mainly performed songs from his album ‘Blue Neighbourhood’ which was released at the end of last year including songs like ‘Wild’, ‘Talk Me Down’, and ‘Suburbia’.
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Despite a number of the album’s songs being quite slow and chilled, Sivan still had the audience eating out the palm of his hand and hyped-up through all of his set. At one point, he warned the front row of the audience to put their phones away whilst he excitedly sprayed them all with water.
The singer’s set also included a beautiful cover of Amy Winehouse’s song ‘Love Is a Losing Game’ where the audience all stood silent to appreciate the singer’s genuine talent. Due to all the technology now in recording studios, it’s safe to say just about anyone can sound good so I was concerned Sivan would be one of those people. However, I was proven wrong as his voice sounded just as brilliant live as it does on his album.
Troye Sivan and his band of two ended on his fantastic single ‘Youth’ which was the track that personally got me hooked on his almost angelic vocals. The singer did the usual trick of finishing earlier than planned and came back on for an encore performing the song after ‘Talk Me Down’.
I was completely overwhelmed at Sivan’s fan base, seeing many people wearing his merchandise and filling 90 per cent of the Academy 1’s room. Not only where they fans, they were die-hard fans who probably woke up with no voice this morning!
I’d highly recommend you give his music a listen because if you haven’t, you’re hugely missing out on some brilliant songs. You can stream or download his album ‘Blue Neighbourhood’ now.
By: Niamh Shackleton
@NiamhShackleton
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