Tom Smith (Editors) live review by Rob Johnson
Birmingham miserabilists Editors have been mostly on hiatus since the release of their most recent album EBM in 2022. In the interim, lead singer Tom Smith released his debut solo record There is Nothing in the Dark That Isn’t There in the Light to universal acclaim in December of 2025. With Editors whirring back into life in 2026 (new single ‘Call It In’ is currently doing the rounds on the streaming platforms), Smith will be playing big venues again soon enough. This makes a show in the intimate surroundings of Sheffield’s Memorial Hall (a small but still grandiose room within the larger confines of Sheffield City Hall), feel all the more special.
Accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Nick Willes (who jumps between guitar, piano and harmonica with impressive ease) and his own acoustic guitar, Smith kicks things off with three tracks from his solo record: ‘Deep Dive’, the album’s calling card and opening track, sets the tone for the rest of the show. Soaring vocals. Dark and stormy lyrics. Intimacy. ‘How Many Times’ and ‘Endings are Breaking My Heart’ showcase Smith’s vocal range. He’s graduated from essentially copying Ian Curtis and Paul Banks from Interpol to finding and honing his own voice. His solo work is surprisingly varied.
Aside from his solo stuff, Smith dips liberally into Editors back catalogue, beginning with an exquisite rendition of ‘All the Kings’ before diving straight into ‘The Weight’. It is a stripped down version of ‘Lights’ that really kicks things off, however, and it is clear from the crowd reaction that these songs still mean the world to a lot of people despite being initially released a lifetime ago. Editors have outlasted many of their peers and this is mainly because their music has a timeless quality to it.
‘Broken Time’ and ‘Northern Line’, the latter of which provokes a pin drop silence from the crowd that most artists can only dream of, underline the quality of Smith’s solo work, before Smith introduces Editors aforementioned new track by proclaiming “here’s another piece of depressing music” to polite laughter from the crowd. We know what we’re here for – “beautiful melodies telling me terrible things” as Tom Waits once said.
Smith ends with a flurry of Editors classics. “An End Has a Start”, “Blood”, “Munich”… these are songs that are interwoven into the fabric of British indie music and it is a privilege to hear them re-worked and stripped back for these acoustic shows.
A rapturously received rendition of ‘Papillon’ is up next, before Willes leaves the stage to allow for a fully solo cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me, Babe’ – an unexpected treat. Smith closes things out with ‘Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors’ – a song that perfectly captures the band’s juxtaposition between hope and despair.
In the coming months, Smith will return to playing in front of big crowds with a full band, and while it’ll no doubt be great, the closeness and intimacy (that word again) of this gig marks it out as one to remember. Those who were lucky enough to witness it certainly won’t forget.
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