Stephen Sanchez - Old School Soul In Manchester

When support act Tors called the Manchester Academy crowd one of the politest they've played to in the city, it spoke volumes about the fanbase Stephen Sanchez attracts. His music — old-school soul wrapped in a modern delivery, somewhere between Mika without the innuendo and James Blunt without the self-mockery — pulls in a thoroughly mainstream audience.

The appeal lies in the familiar: reassuring, dependable, easy to love. "I'm so excited to be here in Manchester tonight" sounded genuinely meant, and his grand theatrical gestures, honed at the tail end of a European tour, are the kind of flourishes our continental cousins tend to appreciate most.

He opened with It Might Be Love, a nod to ELO, before I Need You Most of All conjured shades of Roy Orbison's Only The Lonely. Close your eyes during latest single Love, Love, Love and you could swear you were listening to Simply Red. Shake brought a dash of Elvis and Hound Dog, and on this evidence Sanchez will be back in Manchester at a far bigger venue before long. All he needs is more airplay — Radio 2 feels the natural home for his fifties and sixties-inspired sound, which deserves to reach beyond the TikTok hit Until I Found You that first put him on the map.

As fans sang along in unison, it felt like watching a well-kept secret others have yet to uncover — or a warm hug at the end of a long day. His connection with the crowd was mutual, the sort his peers would envy.

The band were a tight unit, with the keyboard player adding a soulful, jazzy edge through his trumpet solos. Sanchez signed off with "You have been fantastic, Manchester" — and it had been a fantastic night, nostalgic in feel yet unmistakably the start of a long and promising career.