Tom Smith: the dark, the light and everything in between

The Teatro Regio of Parma is one of those places that manage to immediately give a unique character to the evening. An environment of velvets and gilding, where every detail has enough space to breathe. It is here that Tom Smith, historic frontman of the Editors, presented his artistic solo debut to the Italian public, in a setting capable of fully enhancing the more introspective dimension that he decided to explore.
Between the dim light and the soft lights, there is only the essentials on stage, with instrumentation reduced to the bare bones and mainly acoustic. No electronic support, no superstructure. Tom Smith thus shows, with a crooner’s tone, his most emotional soul, the one that often ended up hidden in the dense and angular sound of the Editors.

Solo preview at the Barezzi Festival

With a preview of the tracks that will make up the first album under his name, “There Is Nothing In The Dark Which Isn’t There In The Light”, out on December 5th, the appointment at the Regio offers the possibility of listening to Smith in a different guise, with a performance based above all on subtraction. Within the 19th edition of the Barezzi Festival, the event dedicated to the figure of Giuseppe Verdi’s first protector, the encounter between the baritone timbre of the English musician and the collected silence of the room takes shape.
In a program that for the new 2025 edition alternates international names and precious discoveries, following the spirit of the enlightened patron, from Spiritualized to Micah P. Hinson, passing through Mille, King Hannah and Soap&Skin, Smith appears as the most calm presence on the bill. After over twenty years spent at the helm of the Editors, the new project thus marks a restart, guided by the desire to bring writing back to a purer and more direct form. The performance reflects its intentions, with a mix of unpublished works and reinterpretations of the original group, filtered through a minimal and almost meditative approach, splendidly amplified by the neoclassical architecture of the theatre.

Spare and direct ballads

The curtain rises at 9pm sharp, with the singer-songwriter treading the boards of the stage almost on tiptoe, together with his companion Nick Willes – divided between choirs, guitars and delicate touches of the keyboard – for a setlist of an hour and a half of spare and direct ballads, in which arpeggios and vocal register spread naturally until they reach the stalls, the galleries and even the friezes and stuccos of the room, without ever losing sight of intimacy.

At the opening, “Deep dive”, from the new album, immediately sets the tone, suspended between shadows, melancholy and hopes. The songs, punctuated only by the applause of those present, follow one another in rapid sequence, moving from the single “Life is for living” to the Editors’ most iconic pieces, such as “Blood” or “The weight” or “What is this thing called love” revised in a more rarefied and at times confidential key. “Papillon” without the electronic structure becomes a slow and rhythmic song of liberation, while “Ocean of night” becomes thinner, leaving the lyrics with the task of supporting its gravity. Again, the thread of nostalgia becomes evident, from the single “Lights of New York City”, which tells of looking back regretting lost times, up to the choice of repertoire, in a selection that favors his band’s first albums.

The wood expands, the void after the notes becomes a sounding board and every pause is filled with anticipation. “An end has a start” takes on a new sensibility and the delicately paced rendition of “Munich” leans on the audience’s clapping. Finally, in closing, we slide from the whispered atmospheres of “Endings are breaking my heart” to the melancholy of “Smokers outside the hospital doors”.

Voices, songs, theatre

With his eyes closed and his acoustic guitar, Smith seems to reclaim his identity in a set that evolves from subtle tension to the full breadth of reverbs. And this solo release – presented three weeks ahead of the official release of the album – translated into an intense ritual in which voice, songs and theater found a precise, fragile and luminous meeting point. When the last note dissolves and the lights rise again, all that remains is an enveloping quiet, capable of expanding outside the room. An essential, but perfectly accomplished ending. And that’s all there was to it.

SETLIST

Deep dive
Life is for living
Blood (Editors)
The weight (Editors)
The weight of the world (Editors)
Broken time
Papillon (Editors)
Lights (Editors)
The phone book (Editors)
How many times
What is this thing called love (Editors)
Northern line
Leave
An end has a start (Editors)
Ocean of night (Editors)
Lights of New York City
Munich (Editors)
Endings are breaking my heart
Smokers outside the hospital doors (Editors)