An intimate gig led by the singers narrative: Tom Walker live in Bournemouth

Tom Walker

British singer-songwriter Tom Walker headed to The Old Fire Station in Bournemouth as part of his Best Is Yet To Come intimate tour which will see him play 10 personal gigs across the UK.

In a venue that only holds 550 people, a sense of closeness was created between Walker and his audience which isn’t always achieved at larger scale gigs, in an evening led by the singer’s narrative of his songs which saw him tell the story of each of the tracks he performed and subsequently adding a newfound understanding to the lyrics.

As he took to the stage, opening with an upbeat performance of Not Giving In from his debut album What A Time To Be Alive, this was instantly recognised by the audience, and set the tone for what was yet to come.

The 31-year-old singer introduced Just You and I, by explaining it was a song written for his fiancé Annie, about the times when they first got together and he didn’t have a penny to his name. He added he would drive his ‘beat-up’ Renault Clio down to see her, evident in the lyrics:

Let's get drunk Reminisce about the days We were broke, not getting paid And taking trips at the weekend When I would drive down to see ya And we would paint the town…

He later announced that they are set to get married this year, which was met by an abundance of cheers from the audience.

The story-telling continued as Walker revealed that he recently bought a house off of an 85-year-old woman and inside, there was an antique piano which he instantly ‘fell in love with,’ but was told it wasn’t for sale as it was a family heirloom. A short period of time later, the woman offered it to Walker and he revealed he offered her ‘a cheeky £100’ which she accepted – before disclosing that he couldn’t actually play the piano - The singer practiced with the help of YouTube videos and ended up writing The Best Is Yet to Come.

Support came from 22-year-old singer-songwriter Persia Holder who found recognition on TikTok. She had a graceful stage presence and a beautiful voice that filled the room as she sat alone at a keyboard performing a handful of original songs centred around themes including love and heartache as well as a cover of Lewis Capaldi’s Forget Me.

Persia Holder

Towards the end of the evening Walker treated the audience to a performance of unreleased song Stigma, which he explained was ‘incredibly hard to sing,’ and not because it was a hard song but because he had recently lost a friend to suicide, making it even more pertinent than ever and throughout the heartfelt performance, it was evident that he meant every word of the moving tribute.

Bringing impeccable vocals and heartfelt lyrics, the singer-songwriter came across as extremely down to earth and humble, thanking the audience for buying tickets to his shows and making jokes throughout. He brought buckets of energy with every song he performed all throughout his set and after leaving the stage, promptly returned with an incredible and much anticipated performance of the chart-topping hit Leave a Light On.