Myles Smith plays free hometown gig - Luton
Myles Smith returned to his hometown Luton on Monday to celebrate his debut album “My Mess, My Heart, My Life” releasing this Friday 19th June.
The star known for hits such as “Stargazing and “Nice to meet you” took over the town on 15th June calling the event “My Mess, My Heart, My Luton” to celebrate the release of his new album. This included renaming the train station to Myles End and also giving out free coffee and fish and chips around the area. Then later on everyone was gathered at St Georges Square for the highly anticipated arrival of Myles to play a set before a signing in HMV straight after. It had been raining earlier in the day but not long before the gig started the weather turned really sunny so that made the day feel even more special.
Once he arrived, he signed a few items for fans and took photos with them while he waited to get on stage to start performing but made sure to take time with as many people as he could. He was so grateful for all the love everyone was showing him when they were speaking to him even while he was getting ready to get on stage he was still interacting with fans until the very last moment. The band also took time before and after the gig to speak to as many people as they could and sign anything they wanted with one person even making them sign a coffee cup!
As soon as he got on stage the crowd’s hype was massive when he opened with his song “River” which also included snippets of “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele and “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. The hits kept coming as he followed this up with “Nice to Meet You” which got a huge reaction as soon as the beat of the drum started to get the crowd clapping along with it. “Stargazing”, which is a massive hit all around the world and has gained over 1 billion streams on Spotify, was the biggest highlight of the gig for a lot of people that were in attendance because of how popular the song has become in only 2 years. The noise levels from the crowd turned this square into a stadium as they all embraced how special this day was and everyone belted out the lyrics back to Myles and his band who are all amazing musicians that help the music stand out even more on stage.
He played in Luton just a few months ago for another surprise pop up just down the road from this one which was announced only hours before he arrived because it was the first time he had been in the town since his music career blew up around the world. He played these 2 pop up gigs to thank the town that he grew up in and started his music career because the first pop up gig was used as part of the announcement of his debut album and then returned the week of the release to celebrate it with everyone. He thanked all the schools he attended in the area and was surprised when he spotted people he knew from growing up that were within the crowd.
A standout moment was during “Stargazing” when he stopped it to bring a young fan on stage to sing part of the song to the crowd which created another heart warming moment of the day especially when the same fan also sang the song with him at the first pop up gig in March which is why Myles recognised him and brought him up again. A quote that stuck with me just before this song was Myles telling everyone “Anyone who aspires to do more and wants to go further, I’m proof you can do it” which will hopefully inspire more upcoming musicians to follow in his footsteps.
He jumped off stage to thank people at the front and went straight back to his van, briefly stopping to sign a few more items, so he could get to HMV down the road in time for a signing to finish off a monumental day for him and the town that helped him get to where he is now touring the world whether it’s headline gigs or supporting big artists such as Ed Sheeran on his stadium tour. Myles will be back in the UK with his arena tour in November for his biggest headline gigs to date.
