It’s a good time to be Only The Poets. With more than 50 shows under their belt this year alone, including headliner sell-outs and festival slots, they’ve been busy. Plus, throughout their career, they’ve garnered heaps of BBC Radio 1 support and now tallied up over 10 million Spotify streams as a result. How’s that for impressive? They’ve certainly made waves since their support slot for Ten Tonnes at The Brudenell in 2019.

The night, hosted at Leeds’ Lending Room, was opened by Megan Wyn, a wonderful Welsh singer-songwriter backed by This Feeling. Her set was all acoustic, despite usually playing with a full band, but her choice to perform a stripped-back set was to her credit as her deep vocal clarity and six-string mastery projected even further.

The room was packed from the off with youthful faces, all too eager to chant and belt out lyrics. On a smaller, more modest scale, it seemed akin to what I can only imagine a One Direction gig could’ve been at the beginning — so many fans, so many phones. And through smoke machine effects, an atmospheric walk-on to sheer screaming then descended into the uptempo ‘Crash’.

The next hour was buoyant, and the band had quite the reception. Although there was none of the mosh pit antics you’d usually get in Leeds, a bouncing floor remained throughout the frenzy of colour-changing lights, pop-rock riffery and thumping, sharp drums.

Tommy exuded frontman energy; he possessed a command that had people hooked, and while there was certainly showmanship, Only The Poets’ refined sound justified their following, and then some. Their mixed setlist of older and unreleased tunes simply fuelled that unwavering in-crowd enthusiasm, too.

Every song was an evident hit, and ‘Even Hell’ and the penultimate ‘JUMP!’ were my favourite bops of the night. But props to the four-piece for their poignant delivery of ‘Waking in the Dark’, which came with it an important message about mental health awareness. Plus, the unplugged, yet-to-drop track Tommy and Clem played in the middle of the crowd was so captivating. Fans shuffled into the centre to position themselves in a circle, as close as possible, and you could just see their brimming elation.

Props to Only The Poets, because they’re on the upward trajectory — and they’re so deserving of it.

With thanks to Chuff Media for the press access