Hammersmith Apollo, 4th November 2025
When Role Model – or Tucker, to his fans – took the stage at London’s Hammersmith Apollo for the deluxe European leg of his No Place Like Tour, fan excitement was palpable. He’s done an excellent job crafting this roguish, cheeky image of himself, so the moment Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Bed Chem’ hits the speakers, no announcement is needed. It’s an unofficial sign that, for some ridiculous reason, this is Tucker’s song. He’s next on the agenda.
We’re all actively involved and brought in on his performance – the fans are all part of the show
And it’s this fan-focused buzz and playful persona that Role Model seems to have expertly crafted with his audience that makes the show so audacious. We’re not just watching a singer perform – rather, we’re all actively involved and brought in on his performance. The fans are all part of the show. As he kicks off the night with ‘Writings On The Wall’, his persona is immediately relaxed, chilled-out. Role Model has this vintage yet trendy feel about him, and he confidently brings that into the spotlight with all of us taking part.
His stage presence is immediately inclusive – it does seem like we’re all in one big friendship group here, from the way the crowd chants back “white gold!” when he sings “she had the hoops” at the end of ‘Look At That Woman’, or “baby I’ll do the dishes!” after the lyrics “loving me is like doing a chore” in the middle of ‘The Longest Goodbye’. Even at the bridge of ‘Some Protector’, the audience is on their feet, head-banging, smashing through every lyric as per tradition. Fans know that if there was ever a better time to scream along to a song’s lyrics, it’s now. But fan inclusion and tradition doesn’t just go as far as singing along or chanting. During the wistful and mellow ‘Frances’, the crowd stuns by immediately bringing out their flashlights without any prompt from Role Model himself, illuminating the Hammersmith Apollo in this starry, blue-light dreamscape of fans singing their hearts out.
Each song is accompanied by a colour and glow that is perfectly designed to emulate what it is that we should be feeling
This atmosphere, so expertly designed by Role Model, makes everyone feel so enraptured by his show. He does a great job at stage lighting and direction, bathing the stage with these moody red lights for ‘Slut Era Interlude’ (followed by the show’s most cathartic high note) and a nostalgic yet euphoric purple and gold for ‘Slipfast’. Each song is accompanied by a colour and glow that is perfectly designed to emulate what it is that we should be feeling, and it’s all done in a way that feels genuine, not forced. With that, the absence of light is also an excellent tool that Role Model uses. When he sings the painfully intimate ‘Something, Somehow, Someday’, he sits with his guitar and notebook in the middle of a direct spotlight, covering the entire venue in darkness except for him. It brings out the emotion and candour of the song in a way that highlights himand his words only.
At this point, the crowd was already aching with anticipation and excitement – with audible whispers of “who is going to be Sally tonight?”
Between all his twangy quips (“How we all feelin’ tonight?”) and inside jokes (“I’m Benson Boone, thank you for coming to my show), the final highlight of the show is most certainly ‘Sally, When The Wine Runs Out’. Originally starting as a way to bring out fans who were deemed to be the most electric in the audience, this tradition slowly evolved its way to become celebrity cameos as well – Role Model has brought out the likes of Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, Troye Sivan, Olivia Rodrigo and Charli xcx to accompany him for this final chapter of his performance. And London night 2 did not disappoint, with Niall Horan taking the stage, casually singing along and dancing to the song itself, dressed in laidback jeans and a red party cup in hand. At this point, with Niall’s achingly satisfying cameo, it was impossible to hear anything else but screams and fan eruption – all brought on by Role Model understanding his audience, and what it is that they want, down to the tiniest detail.
By the time ‘Deeply Still In Love’ wraps up as the last song of the show, there’s no denying that Role Model knows exactly how to send a crowd home buzzing. His final performance is inexplicably engaging – he’s an expert at feeding on audience energy, and lashing it right back by laughing along with their excitement. His rough-edged charm is palpable. Between the cameos, the colours, the inside jokes and the laid-back unseriousness of it all, Role Model can truly craft a space with connection at its core.
Words and photos: Christopher Tang, no use without permission.
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