The last time we caught Tom Figgins playing live was at his residency slot at The Troubadour, last summer. We instantly fell in love with his music, his passion and stage presence. All of last week, we were eagerly looking forward to hearing him performing live again. Last night, he performed at Cargo, in London’s Shoreditch, this time with a band. At The Troubadour, it was just Tom and his guitar, but boy was he amazing.
Last night, accompanied by a live band, the gig had an added and different dimension to what we’d previously seen. Some songs we think would work better with just Tom and his guitar, but other songs sky rocketed with their addition. When the focus is on Tom with guitar in hand and nobody else, the attention is ten-fold and there is nowhere to turn. Luckily for the audience, track after track, passion, warmth and a genuine drive gave us a set that we loved watching, which felt all too short, the time just flew by. After each song, we looked around the room to seeing everyone smiling broadly and enjoying every moment and this is what live music is all about.
The gig opened up gently, but you could see that Tom was only getting started – like a volcano about to erupt. The gig kept on getting better and better as time went on. After the first few opening songs in the forms of the great Flame of Desire, Crave and Stolen from the Sun, came a powerhouse performance. A lovely version of his fabulous Let Your Roots Grow, which earned him a lot of attention upon its release last summer, got the crowd tapping their feet and enjoying each beat. But it wasn’t really until we heard him performing Mother that we had a bit of a jaw-dropping moment. Mother started off slowly, with Tom on keys and the backing band gently coming in to the fore. Take this song a few chorus and verses in and we did not expect for such a change in tempo and energy to enliven this song. It was a great surprise. A moment where we thought, just wow – this man really does deserve to be seen on a huge stage. We imagine it can only be a matter of time. His last song of the set was Rain on Me, which is to be his next single release, melodic, heartfelt and gorgeous, a tune which is making the Radio.2 station also take note of.
We have loved seeing his progress from last summer. He remains the humble man that we met last year – yet we are so pleased to see his fan base growing and having more and more interest shown in him by the radio, TV stations and the like. We are excited. Get excited. Do yourselves a favour and check out his work. If you can, do keep your eyes peeled for upcoming gigs at The Troubadour, which are as yet currently yet to be confirmed. We just know that you will love him!
Photo credit: Kate Woods
