Review: Tom Odell, Bedgebury Pinteum, Friday, June 19

The punters up at Bedgebury Pinetum are a polite bunch.

Camping chairs, picnic baskets, socks with sandals and the odd earmuff-wearing toddler are a regular sight.

Fans nodded along and gave a few appreciative claps to support acts Alfie Connor and Rae Morris, the latter a kind of Irish Lorde, who speaks like Annie Mac and whose belting voice is at times reminiscent of Florence Welch when pitched against the heavy drum beats she likes to use.

How amusing it was, then, when Tom Odell came on stage and a rush of screaming scenesters appeared from nowhere at the front.

Boy did the crowd wake up as he strutted left-to-right waving his arms at the crowd to a cacophony of old-fashioned rock guitar and crashing symbols before jumping on piano, where he would spend most of the gig.

If anyone had managed to maintain their civilised air to this point, they were certainly stirred as fans sang back I Know.

Odell, a consummate musician, played with the pace early on, stripping the song right back to his fragile voice in a false ending, before unleashing his band and returning to the chorus. He’d got the people going.

His next trick was just one song later, drowning out the singing of the crowd as he opened his Olympic-swimmer-level lungs on Can’t Pretend. That boy can sing.

Indeed, his gig was much rockier than expected for fans of his piano-laden debut album Long Way Down.

Yet the Brit Award-winner never lost his connection with the audience, as they cooed when he asked if they liked his new piano and drew “ahhhs” as he dedicated Grow Old With Me to his late grandmother.

He stripped right back and showed off his delicate voice on Heal and Real Love, although the latter took a few attempts to get started as he joked “I can’t play when you’re flirting with me” to the gabble of teenage girls leaning over the barriers.

He managed to fit in some new material which was respectfully received, singing at one point with drummer Andy Burrows, formerly of Razorlight, a friend who he said he had finally convinced to come on tour with him.

The crowd gave the predictable cheer for Another Love and Storms.

“You’re such beautiful ******* people” he offered them in rock star fashion – a tag Odell should be getting labelled with more often.