Only less than a year ago, British singer-songwriter captured the hearts and attention of millions around the globe after his astonishing Eurovision performance became the highest-scoring UK entrant in two decades. His legendary performance of the single ‘Space man’ quite literally rocketed him into stardom and rightfully so, he is hands down the best vocalist in the UK by a country mile. His story behind this single Is also rather poetic in that Sam Ryder first saw success in his solo music career, having previously been a part of bands, during the Covid pandemic in 2020 as he spent a lot of the first lockdown performing song covers on TikTok and his immense talents carried him to the top, as he was named the most- followed UK artist on the platform at the end of that year. During this rise to success he also wrote, you guessed it, “Space Man”. Since Eurovision, Sam Ryder’s ambitions only grew higher and higher, with the star releasing his debut studio album “There’s nothing but space, man!” and it flying to the top of the UK charts, he even managed to get nominated for the best new artist of 2023 in the Brit Awards. Sam Ryder now finds himself knee deep into his biggest ever headlining tour across the UK and Ireland, playing sold-out shows across the board. We were lucky enough to catch Sam Ryder as he took over the Manchester Academy for a super special show. This was one of the busiest shows I’ve ever seen for this venue with the place absolutely buzzing from start to finish, it was simply electric. If you also ever needed any testament of Sam’s character, he even spent plenty of time before the show in the absolute pouring down rain greeting fans in the long queue that had built up and personally thanking, signing and taking pictures with his fans. What a guy! Support for the night came from the brilliant Charlotte Jane and Tors.
Setlist-
Somebody
Living Without You
Put A Light On Me
Tiny Riot
Ten Tons
Deep Blue Doubt
All The Way Over
Whirlwind
Mountains
This Time
You’ve Got The Love (Florence + the Machine cover)
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Taylor Swift cover)
Misery Business (Paramore cover)
More
Lost in You
Space Man
SAM RYDER
Photos + Review by Lewis Roberts | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!
