On November 15th, I had the opportunity to cover the Thomas Headon and Alfie Templeman concert in Philadelphia, PA. Both artists have been on my radar for the past two months and I was really excited to experience them live. I was also pretty excited to see how both fan bases would come out for them, especially knowing that this would be the first time they were playing in Philadelphia and on a joint tour.

When entering the venue for tonight’s festivities, something was obviously interesting about this certain atmosphere. The show was literally in the basement of an actual church. For myself, this was not my first time being at this venue (First Unitarian Church) and I was used to this Philly Stable. For others, folks were caught off-guard and even even astonished (especially Thomas Headon who made many jokes about it during his set).

Around 8 o'clock, a small band starts to enter the stage and Thomas Headon follows shortly after. Thomas Headon is an up and coming singer-songwriter from London with a certain flair and sounds that have been exciting to hear and watch within these last couple of years. In my opinion, Headon’s set had the most energy, confidence, and fan participation I’ve seen in awhile. Starting his performance with “Strawberry Kisses”, Headon would talk to fans throughout every song and even went into the crowd within the first 15 minutes. I was also impressed with his acoustic skills and how some songs even sounded better live. I can't wait to see what the future holds for this young talented artist.

While awaiting the arrival of Alfie Templeman, I started to think about when I discovered his music during the pandemic. Being a fan of “Forever isn’t long enough” and “Tea and Biscuits”, Alfie Templeman has a unique sound of pop, disco, and funk music mixed into one. Not to mention, he also writes, records, and mixes all his music as well. In the beginning of his set, Templeman performed “Candyfloss”, a stand out single off of his newest record “Mellow Moon”, which was a great way to start a set and get the crowd involved. He then goes into songs such as “obvious gay”, “Leaving Today”, “Circles”, and other early tracks that have defined the sound of music that he is known for. By the end of the night, Templeman ends the electrifying set with “Happiness in Liquid Form”.

Headon and Templeman’s show was such a breath of fresh air and preview of what I believe will be a new direction with pop music. I’m excited to see what the future holds for these guys and I believe you should be as well.