On the 4th of November, Myles Smith’s arena tour made a stop at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam. With the crowd waiting anxiously for Smith to enter the stage, he started his show with images projected on the screens next to the stage. He was showing the audience a peek in the process of getting to this moment in his life and career. It was like watching a documentary, with interviews with the people closest to him and B-roll footage of some of the highlights from his youth and career. Especially touching was the perspective of Smith’s mom, who never appeared with her full face on camera.
When the band, and finally Myles Smith himself, appeared on the stage, the crowd received them with the most welcoming cheers and applause. The set started strong, beginning with ‘My Mess’, followed by ‘Wait for You’. Only two songs in, there was already pyro and confetti, promising a spectacular show. Smith addressed the crowd for a moment and talked about a conversation he had with his mom. This was when he was still working a 9 to 5 job. He had it quite good actually, but his mom asked him about his daily work and if he found any passion in doing it. Smith answered by quitting his job the next day, without any plans or idea how and where to get started.
The mini documentary was a recurring thing throughout the show. When it came on for the second time that night, providing the audience with more insight into Myles Smiths’ life, Smith subtly moved himself to the smaller, intimate B-stage. The documentary served as a distraction and it worked. When the spotlight moved to the B-stage, the crowd was pleasantly surprised. The stage was really small and it felt like Smith was just standing in the middle of the crowd. That was, until the stage started moving upwards and brought Smith on a literal pedestal. He played two acoustic songs there, ‘My First Heartbreak’ and ‘My Home’. While surrounded by thousands of his fans, Smith told us that by writing these songs and getting to play them live for his fans, he wanted to really introduce himself to them. Since he had essentially written his first whole album about his dad leaving, he felt it was very important to also write about his mom. He said “For every story of someone leaving, there is a story of someone who stays.” His mum was his best friend and the one person in his life he could always count on. That was how ‘My Home’ came into this world. Smith mentioned the irony of someone with social anxiety, himself, standing in the middle of a room with literally thousands of people. Which only made him more relatable and therefore admired
Before he made his way back to the mainstage, Smith instructed the audience to sing a combination of different ‘ooh’ ’s. The instructions were a little vague and the audience was confused as to when to start their ‘ooh’. They needed some help from the band. When Smith was back on the main stage, he wanted to introduce and thank his incredible band. He did this by asking fans to point out a band member. First, someone pointed at the guitarist, Joe Devine. Next was Daniel Said on the drums, and lastly, on the violin, Julia Di Grazia. The three of them played incredible solos, to show just how skilled they are. After they played ‘Dreamers’, even though he was not introduced, Elliott Herrington got to play an incredible solo on keys.
Smith was incredibly grateful for his fans and he made sure to thank them many times throughout the duration of the show. He also read aloud one of the signs held up by a fan. It said that at 15 years old, the fan did not plan on living through to 18.The day after the show would be his 18th birthday. At this, Smith came down from the stage to give the fan a hug.
Later, Smith told the audience he often hears people’s stories about how he got them through a tough time with his music. Some even say he saved them. He said he cannot accept that. Because the person who did that, is the person staring back at you from the mirror. He cannot take credit, for it is all about the strength those people have found within themselves. At a certain point during the show, Smith points at a specific fan on the balcony. He had met them earlier in the day backstage and he had promised them the best seat in the house. Later, a member of his team brought out a couch on the stage. The fan was brought downstairs with his companions, to take place on the couch on the literal stage.
Once again, Myles Smith thanked the crowd. This time while saying “Dankjewel” with almost no accent whatsoever. He said this was genuinely one of the best moments of his life. He started getting emotional, barely getting out of his words. He looked back on when he started to use social media. For the first time in his life, he found people who got him for who he was as a person. And the people found him too. It was wonderful how many people were deeply touched by his music and his words, but also how deeply touched Smith was by the stories of the fans.
Smith asked the audience to hold their phones up, only this time with the lights off. He wanted to ask the crowd some questions. If the question applied to you, you were supposed to put your flashlight on. He asked if anyone in the room had ever experienced anxiety. He asked if anyone ever felt alone. Almost all of the lights went on. He asked the crowd to look around and remember the next time they felt alone, there are thousands of people who feel like you. When the mini documentary once again appeared on the screens, Smith’s team had prepared something for him to say. He said “Mijn voorhoofd is heel groot” (Dutch for “I have a large forehead”) and it got the crowd to laugh.
The show ended with the most energetic encore imaginable. After the band and Smith pretended to end the show, they came back on stage to play ‘Drive Safe’ and ‘Stargazing’. Since the latter is his biggest hit song, lots of phones appeared in the air to record the moment. However, mid-song Smith suddenly stopped playing and took Devine with him to have a brief discussion. He asked Devine if he remembered the good old days. You would listen to the most depressing artist talk shit about his dad leaving for a whole night and you would wait till the artist would finally play their hit song. Devine answered by saying that is exactly what just happened. Smyth countered by saying he remembered so vividly, because there were no phones back in the day and you would really just experience the moment as it happened. ‘So what do we do about it?” “We try it again?” They decided to start ‘Stargazing’ all over again, asking the crowd to please leave their phones and just experience the moment. The crowd obeyed and everyone jumped, danced and sang along. The confetti cannons went off and flames shot in the air. It was a spectacular ending to the night. Smith did a short barricade walk before he disappeared from sight.
All human emotions were felt during the night. Some very sad stories were shared, some tears were sad and at the same time a lot of joy was experienced.
