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A night with Ron Pope is one of beautiful chaos.\u00a0\u201cMy most vivid memory of Manchester is walking into a lamppost,\u201d the pigtailed 40-year-old told the crowd, before starting his set with Bruce Springsteen cover I\u2019m On Fire. Playing to a decent turnout in The Stoller Hall, it was the penultimate night of the pop-rock singer\u2019s 30-odd date tour, and it was clear he intended to have fun winding up. \u201cTouring is rubbish – you wake up in a different place each day and ask what the sandwiches are today,\u201d Nashville-based Ron told us. \u201cBut being on stage – these 90 minutes playing – this is why we do it. It\u2019s pure joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Snow Song and a cover of Carol King\u2019s I\u2019ve Seen Fire and I\u2019ve Seen Rain followed, Ron\u2019s voice raw and powerful, as earnest as it was effortless.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For most of the night he was joined onstage by longtime collaborator and piano mentor Paul Hammer, along with violinist, singer – and Ron\u2019s support act – Lydia Luce. \u201cIt\u2019s his first day,\u201d Ron teased as Paul knocked over some of the set.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Together they were tight, a pretty celebration of strings and slick harmonies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Body Language was a highlight, waking up the sleepy Stoller Hall crowd, along with Good Old Days, a song father-of-one Ron wrote about his five-year-old daughter growing up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The sound in the concert hall was spot on, and despite more than one drunk reveller (clearly lost on their way to a night out in Deansgate Locks) Ron\u2019s every word was heard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/35\/590x\/secondary\/4984909.jpg?r=1695980961435\")
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