Ah, the virtual concert. That’s what we’ve been relegated to since early this year, but I’ve grown accustomed to it. At least it is some form of live and current music. Most recently to take the “stage” is former One Direction member, Louis Tomlinson, who just this year released his first solo effort. A friend and I were supposed to see him on tour over the summer, but the Coronavirus had other plans. At this moment in time, the tour is rescheduled for next year, but so far everything about next year seems up in the air. This was a nice substitute anyways.
Look, I’m being honest, and you probably know it too, that Louis was vocally the weakest of the group of guys who made up One Direction. His voice is not bad, but he has a severely limited range. This makes me nervous. Sure, an album can sound pretty good, but that’s with the help of a lot of studio magic, and sometimes that’s all artists care about. There is always the option to lip sync while on stage.
I was pleased to find that Louis was in fact singing everything live, although One Direction did, too. He also sounded pretty spot on to the record! If you do recall however, that debut received just a sub-par review from me, so sounding “just like the record” isn’t saying much. That, and a lot of his songs sounded pretty much the same. Luckily, he punched up the set list with some One Direction songs! And color me impressed! He sang all the other guys’ parts quite well. His back up band helped round out the sound, too.
Overall, it was a nice clean set with not a lot of surprises, but you could tell a great deal of rehearsal went into the performance. This was a nice tease for what would have been, and hopefully what will be again someday. I’m a Directioner for life, so I’ll always tune into what the guys are doing (and Louis was obviously my favorite).