Review and photos: Antony Szmierek at New Century Manchester

The last 12 months have been a whirlwind for Antony Szmierek. From teaching English to kids at a Manchester special needs college, he's played Glastonbury, appeared on Jools Holland and embarked on his first UK headline tour.

It's been a year filled with pinch-me moments for the 33-year-old from Hyde, but tonight is perhaps the biggest yet as he takes to the stage at New Century in his home city.

The 1,300-capacity venue sold out months ago - despite Szmierek not having released an album yet. The show was initially meant to be staged around the corner at Band In The Wall but had to be upgraded amid a huge demand for tickets.

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It has been an unconventional path into the music industry for Szmierek, who until recently was juggling his teaching job with writing music in his spare time. But having been named one of BBC 6 Music’s Artists of the Year for 2023, there's a hype surrounding him that lends a palpable sense of anticipation to the evening.

The magnitude of the occasion clearly isn't lost on him either. He appears slightly taken aback as he enters the stage wearing a black gilet, 0161 embossed upon his back.

While the nerves are understandable - it's by far the biggest show of his short career - there's no question that he's on home turf here; the room is filled with Szmierek's friends, family and former students, all of whom have backed him from the outset.

It's perhaps fitting then that he opens with ‘Working Classic', a nostalgic look back at his upbringing in Hyde during the 90s. The song's gritty lyrics reference Werneth Low and the now-defunct supermarket chain Food Giant, and are set against a garage beat.

“I’ve thought of nothing but this view for six months,” Szmierek tells the crowd before launching into ‘Rock and a Calm Place’ - a witty, modern interpretation of the Albert Camus essay, The Myth of Sisyphus.

Accompanying Szmierek on stage is his live band, including his younger brother Martin on guitar, and they are joined by Ell Murphy on vocals. The first singalong of the night comes with Sriracha as the crowd lift their hands aloft as Szmierek delivers his lyrics perched on the edge of the stage.

At the conclusion of ‘How Did You Get Here?’, the mulleted performer holds the microphone aloft, swings it around his head, and declares: “This is mad. It’s a hell of a lot for us to be here. It doesn’t make sense, we’ve not released an album yet.”

Szmierek is an artist that is difficult to pin down to a specific genre, his music flitting between spoken word poetry and indie hip hop and combining elements of garage and disco. But the sound is best summed up by the man himself, who described his music as "poems to dance to".

And that's exactly what his adoring fans - who he refers to as 'hitchhikers' - do throughout the evening. There’s an impromptu Robbie Williams signalong before Szmierek announces that we're at the ‘business end of the set’.

A new track song, Laughters, is introduced for the first time, with Szmierek revealing that he penned it in this very room.

It's a hit with the crowd, with one fan waving a crutch into the air in a show of approval. After finishing ‘Circle of Light’ - a song Szmierek says he has never performed live before - he admits he's “spent two or three weeks immobilised by fear” over performing it.

From here on, a weight appears to have been lifted from his shoulders and he begins to relax. Cutting a lively, affable presence, the crowd feeds off his contagious energy.

There’s a cover of ‘Overload’ by the Sugababes, which prompts Szmierek to throw off his gilet, before we arrive at The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Fallacy - a hopeful stream of consciousness narrative in which Szmierek offers up wry observations on the everyday.

This is the moment where the magnitude of the occasion truly hits him. Hearing the crowd sing his lyrics back to him, he appears momentarily awestruck.

But it’s not long before he hurls himself into the crowd and surfs his way into the middle of the room. “I’ve never done that before,” he giddily exclaims after eventually finding his way back to the stage.

In ‘Twist Forever’ - a collaboration with London-based electronic duo Jacana People that highlights Szmierek's talent as a lyricist - he urges the crowd to "just close your eyes, move your hips".

By this point, he’s clearly enjoying himself there and it’s little surprise when he tells us he doesn’t wants to leave.

“This is everything I ever dreamed of,” he adds.

The night isn’t over yet though, and Szmierek promises "something very Mancunian" before the room is transformed into a modern day Hacienda with a cover of the Happy Mondays ‘Step On’. Bouncing around on stage, he's a man with the crowd in the palm of his hand.

“I nearly burst into tears there,” he admits.

Ahead of the final song, The Words to Auld Lang Syne - a melancholic anthem laid over a house-style beat - he urges us to wish Happy New Year’ to the person standing next to us.

“Thank you so much, I’ll never ever ever forget this,” he says before launching into the song, which has seen Szmierek compared with Mike Skinner's work as The Streets.

As the evening draws to a close, a stream of confetti is fired over the audience, bringing to an end an evening that will live long in the memory of those present. If tonight is anything to go by, Antony Szmierek's remarkable rise to music stardom is showing no signs of slowing down.