On Tuesday 12th October, fans took to Birmingham’s O2 Institute for the second night of Role Model’s ‘No Place Like Tour’, named in reference to the same classic film as his 2024-release sophomore album, ‘Kansas Anymore’.
The New England-born singer opened the show with his song ‘Writings On The Wall’, with an energy that remained enthusiastically high the entire night. The audience hung on his every word, shouting when he said to shout and throwing gifts like handmade t-shirts, flowers, and a hot pink cowboy hat.
The crowd themselves were adorned in cowboy hats, boots, and plenty of personalised t-shirts referencing inside jokes between Role Model (Tucker Pillsbury) and his fans, like ‘I heart saintlaurentcowboy’. The singer himself played along, smugly joking ‘Yes YSL cowboy! This is a YSL cowboy show, Role Model couldn’t make it tonight!’, in reference to his social media persona. Tucker maintained an electric, comedic rapport with his fans, going onto later reintroduce himself as other artists like 5SOS and Inhaler. Before calling himself Charlie Puth, fans brought him to tears through their rendition of Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ – a long-running bit in which he claims his mother sung him the hit song as a childhood lullaby.
Though renowned for his lack of seriousness, Role Model broke his zany, comical front during the earnest ballad ‘Compromise’, taking the song’s interlude to show his gratitude for everyone’s attendance, their money and time spent. His newest album, two years and one hiatus in the making, marked a turn toward sentimental sincerity compared to his prior releases.
Though, his newfound genuineness was heart-warmingly evident when he played some of his older songs. During ‘forever&more’ the crowd sang for him as he bashfully took in the appreciation of over 2,000 fans. Tucker created a powerful connection with his fans on the Tuesday, sharing many sweet moments among the silly. One of the night’s purest moments took place during ‘The Dinner’, which is his album and tour’s lyrical namesake: ‘I click my heels three times, we’re not in Kansas anymore’. “Feels like home here,” Tucker grinned, after singing the line “Take me home”. Taking out his earpiece, the artist conducted the crowd through its repetitions, adlibbing playful encouragements, “Louder!”, “Again!”
Ditching his guitar and theatrical moves, ‘Frances’ and ‘Compromise’ became the most vulnerable moments of the night. Perhaps a peak of his connection to the audience, people both on and off the stage became teary-eyed as a sea of flashlights responded to his raw, emotional, and confessional singing: “At the end of the day I’m just thinking of the days we were fine. I don’t know why, I still can’t get it right.”
Despite these sobering interludes to the calamity, Role Model instantly picked up the energy with his performance of ‘blind’, leaping toward the crowd with the widest grin as he yelled the lyrics, ‘I’ve never seen something quite like you!’ Another highlight of the performance was his cover of The 1975’s ‘Somebody Else’, a highly-anticipated addition to the setlist after his Spotify Singles cover went viral this autumn. Though this was the peak of the crowd’s jumping, Tucker himself relentlessly danced throughout the entire night. Fans laughed at his signature “moves like Madonna”, as he swayed around, tongue-in-cheek. Even when behind his guitar, Role Model bounded around, his spinning and sprinting lying somewhere between Elvis and an over-excited puppy.
The vibrant, emotional performance drew to a close with Role Model’s hit, ‘Deeply Still In Love’. Forsaking his guitar for prancing around the stage’s edge, Tucker enveloped the audience in his contagious and uncoordinated frenzy of dancing and laughter. Around 3 hours since the doors opened, the song felt overwhelmingly cathartic, leaving not a straight face in the house. Seconds before he left the stage, “I’m sorry but I’m deeply still in love…” the singer took an electric pause, studying his nails and stroking his hair with mischievous nonchalance and a telltale smirk. The crowd waited with bated breath, “…in love with you, Birmingham!” The room burst into screams and applause, and in the deafening glee it felt Role Model was entirely right, ‘There’s No Place Like Tour’.
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