According to the skinny, memefied, singer-songwriter-drummer-YouTuber from LA, this is his biggest gig ever, as three thousand adoring fans scream back their approval. Louis Cole is currently on a world tour, but it seems like London really could be his number one fan base, something he appears to treasure.

On the other hand, this concert isn’t the Louis Cole from his lo-fi videos on YouTube, like the “I don’t want to check my bank account” meme, racking up millions of views. This is the Louis Cole Big Band, with flute, a five-piece horn section, piano, bass, and two backup singers. Cole’s adventurous, funky songs take on a whole new level when delivered with these full-bodied arrangements, which stretch the songs from their often simple origins into something sprawling and orchestral.

Everything is completely memorised, right down to the horn parts, and the set is an impressive hour and a half, especially considering the two encores delivered at the audience’s request.

But there are some strange omissions, like his hit “Weird Part of the Night”, while leaving room for some pieces that don’t quite work in a live setting, like the rapid spoken word piece “Quality Over Opinion”, delivered over a pre-recorded backing track. It also seemed a shame not to perform any songs from Louis Cole’s collaboration with Genevieve Artadi, KNOWER, when she was right there all night playing the role of backing singer.

Louis Cole is currently on an American and European tour 23 March – 6 June 2023.