Singer-songwriter Will Linley was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa and has always secretly dreamt of becoming a musician that would have his music be heard all over the world. Last year, Linley began making this dream come true by going on his first-ever tour across Europe. This month, it was time for a second tour, playing bigger venues and going to more cities. On the 11th of November, his ‘Hopeless Romantic Tour’ made a stop at Melkweg in Amsterdam.
Doors to the venue opened at 19:30 and a mere thirty minutes later, support act Áine (pronounced ‘Onya’) Deane took to the stage. The London-based singer immediately stated that her set would include many break-up songs, so for those currently in love: “there are some exits!”. This immediately broke the ice and made the audience laugh as she launched into her first song, ‘TALES OF A TWENTY SOMETHING’. She followed this up with her most recent release, ‘bones’, and a cover of Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’. As it was just Deane and her acoustic guitar, the crowd had to be a little quiet in order to properly hear the music. Her playing this cover really grabbed the crowd’s attention, and from that moment onwards they all carefully listened to her words.
Deane asked the audience whether some of them were there with their best friends, as she would be playing a song about her own best friend, ‘alice (living looks good on you)’. Anyone who did not say yes to this question was then jokingly ‘forced’ to apologize to the person they were with. After playing this sweet song, she went back to the break-up music with ‘Gut Feeling’. She told the audience how she wrote this song about her ex who prioritized playing (bad) football over her. “What the fuck!” someone in the audience shouted in response to that, which Deane absolutely agreed with. Deane’s bubbly personality really showed through and made the half-hour set that much more enjoyable. She ended it with ‘Handmedowns’ and ‘World’s Most Famous Mistake’ before leaving the stage.
At exactly 21:00, the introduction to Will Linley’s own set began playing over the speakers. Several quotes from iconic rom-coms could be heard, including lines from 10 Things I Hate About You. Guitarist Paul Hammer and drummer Robby Sinclair took to the stage, quickly followed by the man of the night himself. Linley opened his set with ‘Cinematic’ and ‘How It Starts’, the crowd eagerly clapping along to the latter. He quickly continued with ‘Magic’, receiving a rhinestoned cowboy hat halfway through and putting it on while performing some funky dance moves. He changed some of the lyrics to “Amsterdam, you make me feel something like magic” which led to loud cheering. After playing ‘Sometimes’, Linley spoke a little bit about how he released his debut album Don’t Cry Because It’s Over two months ago and would be playing a mix of songs from that album and older music. He immediately showed the truth of that statement by playing ‘Up At Night’ and ‘kill all my feelings’.
Having rushed through these first six songs, Linley told the audience how he feels he should not do so, as he really wanted to enjoy as much time on the stage as possible. While he still played ‘Maybe’ and ‘Kiss Me Like You Mean It’ right away, he did take a moment to speak to the audience afterwards. He told them how the next song he would be playing is one of his favourites ever written, but that it was not originally going to be on the setlist. However, in South-Africa the song “really popped off”, so he wanted to see if ‘Blame’ would do just as well in Europe; and it sure did! After the song, Linley spotted a whole group of kids up on the balcony, who all wore self-made t-shirts and sunglasses. Linley asked all of them to introduce themselves, which made for a wholesome moment.
Linley continued the set with ‘Gracie’, a song about wondering whether there is someone out there that can come into one’s life and flip it upside down. At the end of the song, he switched out the name Gracie for a fan’s name, Monique. A little awkward, but also cute! He moved on by stating that “it’s not a Will Linley show if I don’t get deep and meaningful at some point” as he would next be singing ‘First Love’, about a break-up he recently went through. The crowd immediately lit up with flashlights held up in the sky. Next he played ‘miss me (when you’re gone)’, dedicated to one of his oldest friends Kieran, who was in the audience tonight, and then announced that “the chill part” of the show had finished. Linley quickly ran through ‘American Dream’, ‘Tough (The Girls Song)’ and ‘wrong time’ as he danced and jumped across the entire stage. The ‘last song’ of the night, ‘Just Because I Called You’, was played after Linley thanked the audience. He stated how his fans are the reason why he keeps doing this; to create spaces where they feel comfortable, a “home away from home”, especially for the many South-Africans in attendance. Of course, Linley still had to come back for the encore. To change things up, he first came into the crowd to play an acoustic cover of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ together with support act Áine Deane. The audience had to be really quiet, as they performed without microphones. After loud applause, Linley climbed back onto the stage to end the night with his hit ‘Last Call’.
