The rise of Manchester poet and musician Antony Szmierek has accelerated over the last couple of years, and the capacity crowd in Leeds show how far he’s come. From a few folks watching the BBC Introducing Stage at Leeds Festival in 2023 to a sold out Stylus, we’re gathering in Leeds University tonight to see the increasingly polished performance of the former English teacher.
The crowd was a little slow to gather, and unfortunately for them, they missed out on a couple of brilliantly curated support acts. Leeds-based singer-songwriter Spielmann opened up, with witty stories which wouldn’t feel out of place on 8 Out of 10 Cats do Countdown or indeed Phoenix Nights.
The outstanding Getdown Services delivered a brilliant, funny, sometimes comedically aggressive set which took us on a journey of Dog Dribble, a lot of talk of shit and a push back against Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meal solutions. Honestly, one of the strongest and best chosen support acts I’ve seen in a long time, perfect for a wordsmith-loving crowd.
By the time Szmierek hits the stage though, the crowd swelled and suddenly the room was heaving as the strains of the title track to Service Station At The End of the Universe ring out. Bouncing into Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Fallacy, Szmierek has gone big early on in the set, given this is one of his better known tracks, and it’s a testament to his growing confidence that he’s making space after that for the new material to shine. More than half the set is taken this debut album. This is the assurance and quality that’s taken him to SXSW last week, before resuming his tour in the UK on 20th March.
Having seen Szmierek on a number of occasions now, his stagecraft is increasingly polished, but retains the authenticity that typifies his lyrics. He engages his audience from the start. He’s somewhat self-effacing, but his confidence is clear as he picks out people in the crowd all night to draw us all closer together. Complimenting the parenting skills of one couple at the barrier, he talks with genuine interest to a young girl named Rosie, who is singing all the words back to him. Remembering a show at The Wardrobe in 2023, he recognises the fan who carried him aloft on his shoulders that night and they have a short but very sweet catch up.
Don’t let this fool you into thinking it’s all laid back lines and chat though. The energy fizzes throughout the show. No more so than when Szmierek leaps the barrier and dances among the crowd in a “poetry mosh pit”. Adrenaline fuelled, he makes it back to the stage and shouts “Take that Simon Armitage!” He can’t keep up the aggressive persona for long though and the real Antony comes through quickly as he apologises to the Poet Laureate in absentia “No, I don’t mean that. Simon Armitage is lovely”
“If you weren’t dancing before, dance now…otherwise, what’s the point of being alive?” Szmierek implores, and the crowd vibes with him for the rest of the night.
Unusually, mobile phones are few and far between, instead the crowd feels completely present from start to finish, hooked in by the beats and the intelligent lyricism. They’re right in the moment, all the attention focused on the stage.
Summing the night up perfectly, Szmierek delivers the line in Rafters, “You’re here now, it doesn’t matter where you’re going after”.
Hard to see how I could put it better than that.
