A star is clearly in the making at Manchester‘s AO Arena this past Saturday, as Troye Sivan brought his biggest tour yet.
We’re in a great age of pop again, with a breath of fresh-air brought by freedom, from the likes of Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, taking storm as new-age icons, Troye Sivan is right alongside.
Sure, Sivan‘s yet to have reached the chart heights of any of those as of yet (albeit, taking this foray into arenas), but he’s clearly on the way, between his pop culture likeability (ask Saturday Night Live about that), his consistent feature schedule, and now, Something to Give Each Other.
However, before Sivan‘s appearance, the tour featured an opening act in the way of Jodie Harsh, the beloved DJ that has been a predominant name in British club culture for a decade or so now.
Harsh‘s set, doing it’s job in waking the young crowd up, featured an electric mix, from the fresh Jamie xx & Robyn collaboration “My Life“, Disclosure‘s “She’s Gone, Dance On“, a few of Harsh‘s own sprinkled in, a hint of Cypress Hill, and a crowd-lifter in Benny Benassi‘s classic David Guetta duel “Satisfaction“.
Taking to the stage at 8:30pm, and opening with “Got Me Started“, with a remixed intro, Sivan instantly lit the AO up, sliding straight into form, and joined by the adoring crowd. This isn’t one of those gigs that takes a few to warm-up.
It’s understandable that this is Sivan‘s first headline arena tour. Telltale signs are visible throughout; light press attention, DJ as an opening act, etc, but there’s steady visions of an artist whose clearly belonging on a stage of that size.
Utilizing his somewhat triple-threat nature as a true pop-star, Sivan uses a lot of tools in his arsenal to pull off his stellar performance.
Tight-knit and often, incredibly hot choreography, that his audience eats up, an appreciated live band, a perfectly-light scaffolding stage design, a mixture of props (such as his bed, brought up for “In My Room“), and such a likable personal touch.
Talkative throughout, Sivan showed he wasn’t all business, not an artist to play two-hours and go-home, expressing his love for Manchester and potentially (jokingly) inciting a “gay riot” on Canal Street after he finishes.
His second act, starting with the aforementioned “In My Room“, really opened his star power, lined with back-to-back collabs with Ariana Grande, Bloom‘s “Dance to This“, and her-own “Supernatural“, an always welcome voice tied to Manchester‘s AO Arena.
Sivan’s backed with three records of his own, and a handful of features, but tonight was about his eclipsing Something to Give Each Other, playing all but one track, and leaving his debut Blue Neighbourhood behind, whilst airing out small slices of Bloom, and his changing In A Dream EP.
Act IV, into V, splitting between costume changes and themes, “One of Your Girls” stands clear out as the highlight of the evening, followed with the Tate McRae & Regard feat. “You“, “STUD“, and his almost instant-classic Charli XCX drop “1999“, before his encore finally brought out “Honey“, and the iconic “Rush“, corroborating with the dance rave atmosphere that he’s previously spoken about.
There could be a significant tighten-up of the set list, perfecting those breaks, to make it all flow better, however that’s not as-if the issue was large enough to take anything away.
If this is the start of Troye Sivan‘s extensive career on the biggest stages in Europe, it’s opened with a bang.
Words by Jack Cinnamond.
SOUNDS FROM NOWHERE 
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