Following the release of his debut album “I Love You, Please Don’t Hate Me” last year, Sam Fischer has returned home to Australia to officially kick off his world tour. An eager Sydney crowd packed into Oxford Art Factory to witness Sam’s vulnerable storytelling and powerhouse vocals in an intimate setting. With an automated voice introducing Sam onto the stage, he launched straight into the chorus of the album’s title track before abruptly finishing it and going into the upbeat “Afterglow”. Thanking the crowd for coming out to see him, he got the singalong’s happening straight away with early fan favourites “Second Hand Happiness”, “Hopeless Romantic” and “I Got To Live”. 

The automated voice came back to announce the set was heading into sad territory, and she was so right with “You Don’t Call Me Anymore”, “What Other People Say”, “Land Slide” and the heartbreaking “Carry It Well”. But it was the unreleased “Parents” that hit hard with its candid honesty of him not being close to his parents and watching so many people be so close with theirs during the pandemic. With the automated voice coming back to let the crowd know they made it through all the sad songs, it was time to get into some of the final big singalongs like “Iceberg” and “Alright”. 

As the show steered towards the end Sam announced he had a little surprise, before casually welcoming Guy Sebastian to the stage for their recent collaborative single “Antidote”. The crowd screamed so loud that Sam asked Guy to stick around and sing “This City” with him to close out the show. The set was structured so well in creating a rollercoaster of emotions that brought highs and lows in the energy, and allowed you to really soak in his vulnerable songwriting. But the real highlight in the show was his voice. It’s soulful, smooth, and damn he can hit some high notes. 

On support duties was breakout Sydney based indie-pop favourite Chris Lanzon, who captivated the audience with his soothing stylings. Opening with “Starlight”, he went straight into “Dark Side”, “June”, “You’ll Find It”, and recent single “Angel Litany”. Announcing to the crowd that his new single “Lilo”, is out Thursday 16 May, he then performed the intimate track which is all about being there for someone during hard times. With Chris on guitar for the entire set, he was also accompanied by a keyboardist, and an extra guitarist who impressively played with a bow. This special arrangement highlighted Chris’ artistry so beautifully and really brought everyone into his world with the addition of stunning harmonies, and tender lyrics. Closing out the set with his cover of The Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris”, and a mashup of his tracks “Always Forever” and “Fuck It Up”, he very much cemented that he’s an artist you need to get to know.