Sydney Rose shines at her headline London show
On July 3rd, the American singer-songwriter Sydney Rose played the second of two consecutive nights at the Omeara in London.
Another sold out night of her debut headline tour, the show fell on the evening before Sydney took to the stage of BST Hyde Park as an opener for Noah Kahan, marking an intimate celebration of her 2025 EP, I Know What I Want.
A queue of fans wrapped around the venue, before heading inside to a pre-show playlist that had the room singing along in unison to tracks by Role Model, Audrey Hobert, Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.
Opening the night, one of her best friends Noah Levine soon graced the stage with an acoustic set of original songs, country-esque ballads and even a cover of Phoebe Bridger’s Motion Sickness. Talking about his EP that would release exactly two weeks later, Noah thanked the crowd for being so welcoming and respectful, noting that he doesn’t often get to play solo shows.
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Known to many as the Texan-born lead guitarist for Noah Kahan, you can check out his most recent project on Spotify now:
After a momentary break in which Sydney’s photographer came around to take photos of white skirt and flower crown-clad fans, the headlining singer herself appeared on the Omeara stage, greeted by excited cheers from across the room.
As whimsical vines and fairy lights around her microphone set the scene, Sydney began with Cool Girl, the 10th track from her 2023 album, One Sided. With lyrics about “writing poems in the backseat of [her] mind” about a “cool girl who can take it / Of a cool girl who can fake it,” it almost felt like Sydney was hyping herself up for the evening as fog billowed across the stage.
"Wow, yall are so beautiful thank you so much for coming,” she said. “Welcome to the I Know What I Want tour!" Soon enough, a fan in the front row handed Sydney a card signed by those in the queue. “That’s so cute, it’s going on my wall!”
"Who brought their friend tonight?” Sydney asked, scanning the room as those in the crowd looked to the people beside them. “That’s right - friends make the world go round. Please turn to your friend and give them the biggest compliment ever."
She tuned the guitar as the crowd chattered, before strumming the opening chords of You’d Be Stars, another song from her 2023 album that features Chloe Moriondo in the studio recording.
"I put out a little EP called I Know What I Want, and we’re going to sing a couple songs from it. Does anyone have a dog?” Sydney asked fans. “I have one - I was very fortunate to have spent 15 years with my childhood dog. She was so old she just wouldn’t die [the crowd laughed] but she was a bichon and lived a very full life. This next one, I’m just going to dedicate to her.”
A song about childhood sadness and nostalgia, Sydney played a heart-wrenching rendition of the EP’s opening track 31, singing the lyrics: “I have a feeling that I’ll miss it / And this will be the last time that I see my dog / I used to ask myself as a kid / Why does growing up take so long? / Now all I do is go back, it’s all I do.”
"I never get over anything ever,” Sydney said. “That’s like what all these songs are about. There’s so much lore in this room right now. My mum’s here, but she doesn’t like when I point her out so ill let her be mysterious. It’s crazy that we’re all here in London, it’s really special for me. You’d Be Stars is the last happy song and everything else is going to be miserable,” she joked. “This next one is about getting older, here we go!" Sydney said before heading into 5 More Minutes, another beloved song from the project.
"Has anyone been wronged by a man?” she asked the crowd between the songs. “What about a woman?” Met by a much louder cheer, Sydney said: “God, don’t let anyone ruin your favourite thing because it’s one of the worst things ever."
Next came Briston, Sydney’s 2024 single that seemingly the entire room knew the lyrics to. Taking a momentary break from singing afterwards, she accepted gifts from the crowd - flowers, signable cards and even an adorable jellycat.
"Who here is single? Who’s never been in a relationship before? Who’s never been kissed before?” she asked. “Well, you’ve come to the right place because I’ve never done any of that here! This next song I really love. It’s about being scared about falling in love. Yeah, round of applause for that!”
As the lighting softened to a pinkish glow, Sydney played her next track, Thank You For Trying, its melancholic lyrics bringing some fans at the front row to tears.
Next, Sydney asked if it was anyone’s birthday. A girl named Sab had turned 18 that day, and celebratory cheers were heard around the room. “We’re going to sing you happy birthday but in the worst way possible,” Sydney joked. “Thank you for spending your birthday with me.”
“You know when you’re best friends with someone then you’re not anymore and then their birthday comes around and you’re obligated to text them happy birthday, but you see the previous messages and its been so long since you’ve texted and you get this horrible feeling in your gut that things change and people change? I love this song and hope you love it too,” she said, playing the opening strums of Birthday Song. With its ever-relatable lyrics and haunting melody, Sydney performed a fitting mash-up with the outro of Phoebe Bridgers’ Scott Street, with the entire crowd singing along to the iconic lines: “Anyway, don’t be a stranger.”
Then came one of the night’s most anticipated tracks and Sydney’s most recent single, Before And After You. "Does anyone like The Last of Us?” she asked to introduce the song inspired by the TV series. “Pedro Pascal is in London right now and he’s not here. It’s fine cause he’s busy and has to work. This song came out yesterday, so listen to the recorded version because it’s 50 times better than what I’m about to do for you. The one that’s recorded is sad but like you should be driving in your car to it - and you’ll crash the car!” she joked.
Knowing that the song itself is no laughing matter, the room fell silent as Sydney played its opening notes on the keyboard. Once the chorus hit, its lyrics were sung back across the room: “But I’m just a liar, and that never happened / It’s all my fault, and it’s too late now / I can’t remember all of the good stuff / There’s a before and there’s an after you.”
“Did you like your opener?” Sydney asked before the next song. “Would it be absolutely insane and crazy if he just came out right now to sing a song with me? Our friendship anniversary is almost coming up - we did a session once and lives were changed. Tonight, we have a very special cover for you: Graceland Too by Phoebe Bridgers.”
After a beautiful rendition of the song with angelic harmonies and soft guitar strums to match, Sydney introduced the next track, Unmade Bed. “This song is about not being enough for someone - but also that’s not true and you are enough! Don’t change yourself to make someone like you because that’s not how it works and you learn that the hard way, I guess. This song is really special to me. Its from my one album I have called Lopsided.”
Taking a moment to thank her onstage guitarist, Lydia Maes and her manager Lauren, Sydney told the crowd: “My family’s here. They all came from Atlanta, Georgia to be here in London and see me play it’s so crazy.” Telling fans to turn to their friends and ask what their favourite movie is right now, Sydney then introduced her next song, Dogs I Pass On The Street.
“You know that Noah Kahan song, We’re Gonna Go Far? This is like my version of that one. It’s kind of an everything’s going to be okay song.”
Nearing the end of the show, Sydney played a stunning piano-led version of Listen to the Birds before telling the crowd, "I think friendships are very important. I’ve loved and lost a lot of people in my life but I don’t regret any of it. I want you to turn to your friends and tell them how much you love them right now.”
Someone in the crowd shouted how criminal it was to play these songs back-to-back, as Sydney led into the track We Hug Now, a fan-favourite with over 140 million Spotify streams to date.
Singing louder than ever before, the crowd was told: "This is basically my encore so you’re welcome. Yall want Charlie, so I’ll do it"
"Yall like The Perks of Being a Wallflower? Yeah, me too. Here’s some lore whilst I tune. When I graduated high school, my friends forced me to watch High School Musical 3 but I really wanted to watch perks. They all fell asleep and I watched it by myself and I felt 17 again, so the next morning, I wrote this song."
Confessing that she randomly added a new and unreleased song to the setlist for all the European shows, the crowd fell silent as they became captivated by Sydney’s careful lyricism. “It’ll come out - I don’t know when - but soon. I think its called Dreams, but we’ll see.”
“This last song is one of the first ones I put out that I wrote by myself,” she said. “It holds up to this day and I wrote it in 2020 - it’s so 2020. You know like when you have a friend and they stop talking to you and you don’t know what you did to make them leave you? This one’s called idk what i did.”
Giving the night a perfect send off, the crowd raised their phone lights and swayed to the melody. Clearly feeling the love around the room, Sydney bid fans farewell, saying “Thanks so much! I’ll see you next time, London.”
For those who missed it, here’s the full setlist from the show:
Cool Girl
You’d Be Stars
31
5 More Minutes
Briston
Thank You For Trying
Birthday Song
Before And After You
Funeral (Phoebe Bridgers cover with Noah Levine)
Unmade Bed
Dogs I Pass on the Street
Listen to the Birds
We Hug Now
Charlie
Dreams (unreleased)
idk what i did
Starting October 15th, Sydney will be heading out on a headline UK/Europe tour, so make sure to buy your tickets now before they sell out!
On October 24th, she’ll return to London for a night at the iconic Islington Assembly Hall, with indie-pop openers Esme Emerson set to share the stage.
To brush up on their discographies before the show, we’ve even made a playlist for new and old fans alike to check out on Spotify:
