#Izzy Hawksworth

[dailytomlinson]

At the start of 2020, Louis Tomlinson had just kick started his solo career off proper – his debut album ‘Walls’ was released in January and he performed two dates of his world tour before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and every other date was either postponed until next year or cancelled. Fans of the former One Direction star were gutted (of course) but their happiness has been restored as Louis played his first virtual gig last night.

You might expect that a virtual concert consists of just a singer and their band sat in an empty venue, right? With no lights or affects, and in a way it looks ‘boring’? Well this was the complete opposite! The classic Louis red lighting and the strobe lighting almost made you believe that you were actually there in real life!

Louis walked out on stage with his new haircut – it’s a lot longer than what fans were used to seeing. Has he been spending too much time with Harry Styles, who knows? He kept things casual in a laidback £22 Reebok t shirt which is now sold out in every single size due to Tomlinson’s influence.

He then kicked the concert off (15 minutes late may I add – fans are convinced that he wanted to watch the football) with ‘Just Hold On’. This is a song he originally produced with Steve Aoki and is more of a dance record, a bit different to the indie sound he is now leaning towards. But, he adapted the four-year-old record to his new style and it was a great surprise for fans – especially to kick off the livestream.

He then continued to sing ‘We Made It’ and ‘Don’t Let It Break Your Heart’ – two new songs from his album ‘Walls’. He then followed these tracks into a classic One Direction song ‘Drag Me Down’. Fans from all around the world went crazy about this – nothing beats a One Direction member singing a One Direction song in their solo career (well maybe a reunion would beat this).

Later on in the show, he sent fans into a frenzy when he performed two more hits from his boyband days – ‘Through The Dark’ (arguably an extremely understated song) and ‘Little Black Dress’ – a song that Tomlinson has expressed is one of his favourites and as he has previously said: “And remember if it’s by One Direction and it’s a banger I probably wrote it”.

But of course, he did sing his solo songs. Hits such as ‘Habit’ echoed through the screen of thousands of fan’s laptops, phones and TV screens and you can almost guarantee that they were all screaming along to the iconic lyric “Come so far from princess park.” Louis also poured his heart out in the song ‘Two of Us’ – a song dedicated to his late mother Johannah.

He also performed a brand new song which shocked fans when he released the setlist earlier that day. In ‘Copy of a Copy of a Copy’ Louis sings “You won’t be the first or be the last to bleed, every broken heart as far as I can see is a copy of a copy of a copy” and fans are already demanding it is released as soon as possible. He also sang a cover of ‘Beautiful War’ by Kings of Leon and fans are hoping that it will be available to stream soon.

Fans are going crazy for the new song, Twitter user @Jailboyhamirah said: “Cause of death: Louis Tomlinson singing copy of a copy of a copy.” which just shows the light hearted banter the fandom has and it also shows how excited they truly are.

The rest of the songs performed were just as great as the others, you could hear the excitement and happiness in this voice as you could tell he was just so happy about being back on stage. You could just tell he was in his happy place doing what he does best.

In the final song ‘Kill My Mind’, the screen behind Louis showed some lucky fans singing and dancing along behind him. This was a great idea – it gave fans a chance to perform with their idol and it made it feel even more like an actual concert. It was also a great ending to the livestream and made saying goodbye a little bit easier.

We also need to thank his musicians – if it wasn’t for them the concert wouldn’t have been as good as it was and they were all so incredible. His band is made up of Michael Blackwell on the guitar, Steve Durham on the drums, Matt Dinnadge on bass, Isaac Anderson also on guitar whilst the keys are played by Zac Craner. We also need a moment of appreciation for the brilliant string players that accompanied some songs and of course, the brilliant crew that made all of this possible for us fans.

Like always, Tomlinson’s fans don’t do anything by halves. ‘LOUIS TOMLINSON’, ‘THANK YOU LOUIS’, ‘LITTLE BLACK DRESS’ and #LTLivestream was trending worldwide and when tickets were released, the site crashed almost immediately. This is also the biggest show that Veeps have ever streamed before.

The virtual concert has also raised funds for the touring industry along with four other charities that are close to Louis’ heart – FareShare, Crew Nation, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice and Stagehand.

Louis shared a message on the screen after the concert that said: “Thank you to every single person who helped make this livestream possible.

“Without my band, my crew and team, live shows just wouldn’t happen.

“The money raised so far from this show will help some important causes, so a big thank you to everyone for tuning in.

“I can’t wait to see you all on tour soon!

“Stay safe, Louis x”

This concert allowed fans to see Louis performing – he was in his happy place and he was able to give fans a taste of what his future concerts will be like, all being well. It also gave a chance for fans to connect and watch a concert all together – no matter what corner of the world you’re from.