Louis always puts on a spectacular show and is an incredibly talented artist but Faith in The Future on tour is something else. The album is incredible on a whole other level than Walls, and although I adore Walls, FITF is probably my favourite album of the last five years.
Watching the start of the tour through lives and seeing the amazing feedback both from the audience during the show and post show online is incredible. All the fans, myself included, were very excited to see which songs would make the cut from Walls, from the pre-Walls single and from Faith in the future.
We weren’t disappointed when the first show started and we saw Louis open with The Greatest, because, of course, together we’re definitely the greatest. We make an incredible fandom in response to an absolute gem of an artist who loves his fans, more so than any other artist I’ve ever seen.
He then goes into Kill My Mind which gets the crowd pumping before Bigger than Me, although this song hasn’t made it to every show. It’s unsurprising since it’s such a big, challenging song to sing and Louis is still building confidence in himself, in his vocals and in his artistry.
He’s been very open about how he has been feeling emotionally since tour started, stating on occasion that he’s feeling vulnerable and as fans all we can do is respect his choices, love him through the challenges and support him every step of the way until he finds steady ground.
As this album is more challenging vocally, it’s unsurprising that Louis has struggled to find confidence, but every show so far has been incredible whether he’s pouring his heart and soul into Saved by A Stranger, which has broken and healed in equal measure, or getting the crowd going to High in California. He’s growing in confidence every show and it’s wonderful to see him showing his strengths vocally and owning his talent in a way we haven’t seen before from him.
Another surprise was his choice of cover song for this tour, (although we do miss Beautiful War and 7). 505 by the Artic Monkeys is an incredible song which shows his depth as a performed and is a widely known, popular song in the Indie Rock fandoms, so it’s a fantastic way to reach a wider audience and grow his fanbase in an organic way. Fans love it and it definitely highlights the growth Louis has gone through as a performer over the past few years.
Louis commands the stage and doesn’t need theatrics or gimmicks to engage his audience, but his natural sass and wit make each show different and ensure audiences get the authentic Louis experience.
The megamix section of the show is something else with the lighting, blue and green for All This Time then into rainbow colours that shine out for She is Beauty, We are world class. This has become the fandoms Gay anthem of this tour, replacing Only the Brave (gone but never forgotten). Fans also hold up pride flags during SIBWAWC and the general consensus of SIBWAWC is that this is a song for the girl’s, the they’s and the gays. Fans have also done rainbow lights projects during this song which was included in Louis’ Instagram reel about the start of the FITF world tour.
His choice to sing One Direction song Night Changes isn’t surprising because he showcased it for the first time on stage at Away From Home 2022 and it was a highlight of the show for many fans. However, his other choice of One Direction song, Where do Broken Hearts Go, definitely surprised fans, since Louis has no writing credits on it. In fact the only member of One Direction with a writing credit on the song is the one and only Harry Styles. Louis brings his own twist to the song, sampling Teenage Wastleland by The Who and performs it with incredible vocals, but as a nod to his former days in the band, it shows that there is absolutely no bad blood between him and Harry, as he would have had to ask for permission to perform this song.
Onto the finale and the show ends on Silver Tongues, which isn’t surprising considering the lyric, ‘I don’t feel like goin’ home.’ It’s the perfect song to end the show on, since fans never wanna leave that feeling that Louis gives in concert behind. He gives us, as fans, a safe space where we can feel his love, his trust and his gratitude and we can show how much we love and appreciate him and his talent by screaming his lyrics back at him (which we do, perfectly.)
Louis is a one in a million performer and if you get the chance, I’d absolutely recommend seeing him live. It’s an experience like no other and you’ll enjoy everything from the atmosphere of the fans to the incredible show he puts on.
