Will Linley in Hamburg - Pop-Up Show at a Pub
On Thursday May 29th the South African singer Will Linley did a pop-up show at the Ellewitt Drinks & Darts pub in Hamburg.
When Will arrived at the venue he waved at everyone, inside he quickly set up the impromptu stage - he ended up standing on table the whole time he sang - so that people could see him better and his guitarist Paul Hammer was stood next to him - but not on the table.
He mentioned that an album is in the works. After this he said “the blueprint for that album and the blueprint for the way I want to do music and kind of live this life is to connect with as many people as possible". He also mentioned the quote “music is the primary way for combating loneliness” someone shared with him. To this Will added that “one of the most beautiful things” is people becoming friends over their favourite music and at shows - he shouted out two fans who were at the pop-up event where he knows they met at a concert - and that’s what he wants to do also, to bring people together and create a safe space for everyone to be themselves, “You’re welcome as you are”, he said.
The first song of the set was “kill all my feelings”, the attendees immediately started to sing along! Before the next song “Cinematic” he mentioned that “the whole idea around this album is creating a rom-com” and that “one of those songs that felt like you could see the movie scenes” - he made an analogy to a scene from the movie Notting Hill. Will said “the song felt like the start of a rom-com”, then Paul and him started playing it.
Followed by the song “Just Because I Called You”, which was the first time he played it in Europe. Before it he explained that he started with it years ago, but it didn’t feel right. He got messaged by one of his friends whose sister kept asking if it’ll be released one day then he “went back into the studio with his best mates” to give it a last chance and it ended up working out. Because he didn’t want to just put it out, he met up with his friend Mike Wright (who’s a creative), they put together the concept to do newspapers for the song, they had different people each writing articles for it and Will then went around Cape Town and gave them to people.
4th song of the set was “Gracie”, “one of my favourites to perform live” said Will. The so far unreleased song “First Love”, was the next song. He talked about it being one of his favourites from the upcoming album, because he “felt like I was being the most vulnerable and honest I could be in a song” and mentioned that it is about his first breakup. As next song “Last Call” followed and the fans gave it all they got to sing along. Will then said that “it’s so wild to think that 3 years ago I was studying” and noted that it’s wild to him that people “showed up at the pub on the other side of the world”. Then Paul and him followed with the last song of the set “miss me (when you’re gone)".
Afterwards the show fans had the possibility to buy merch, as well as to meet Will. He took his time with everyone and spoke with all the people who wanted to talk to him. While he met fans, someone from his team handed out small cd’s a gift, with his newly released song “Cinematic” and an unreleased one.
It was an intimate show, filled with lots of cheering, having fun and smiles in the crowd and on stage - Will expressed his gratitude for people having gone to the event multiples time throughout it.
During the show he announced that he will be back in Hamburg later this year for a headline show and fans could scan a qr-code, which lead to the possibility to purchase a ticket before the official announcement.
REVIEW AND PHOTOS BY
Nora
Throughout 2022 and the beginning of 2023 I started to photograph with my phone at shows I went to, in April of 2023 I got to photograph with my camera at a show for the first time and have been doing it since. I love that it´s possible to combine (live) music and photography!
Excited to see what the future will bring!
