Thoughts and Insights on the Singapore Shows
Some thoughts and insights on the 2 Singapore shows of the Son of Spergy Tour 2026 - I was in early admission standing on the first night, and seated on the second.
You can reference the set list from elsewhere, but these are some comments on the differences.
Set List:
- It starts and ends with songs from SOS.
- He has a period of approximately half an hour in the middle where he can ‘play what he wants’ so essentially he varies the set list a bit each night before returning to set songs.
- Both nights he started this section with Please Do Not Lean. On the first night, he let the crowd sing the sky/sea parts but it honestly didn’t go so well and everyone struggled with the last high note of the phrase and with how long it went on. On the second night, he didn’t ask the crowd to sing this section, and instead sang some lyrics that I hadn’t heard before - I remember it started off with “dopamine, dopamine” and referenced a person who is like a 9-year old child (in spirit) - I saw it’s been posted in the subreddit already.
- On the first night, he played an unreleased song he’s been working on. It was amazing with some very strong expressive vocals!
- He also sang Cool on the first night, which he has previously said was his favourite song on NE at the time.
- On the second night, he played Transform, which he said he hadn’t played in ages, and it was life changing! But he didn’t sing the last section which was a little disappointing.
- Second night, he sang Japanese Denim.
- Both nights, he played Cyanide but the first night was a lot more energetic.
- Both nights, he sang Always.
- Both nights, he sat back and let the crowd sing for Best Part and Get You. However, on the first night the vocals were prominently performed by some members of the gospel choir, while on the second night, the audience’s enthusiasm took over.
- I think he returns back to the SOS set list with Sign of the Times - he did the rap section on the first night, during which he said “Then it would been me instead of *Monica’s life*” which is blanked out in the studio version. He did not sing the rap section on the second night.
- For the encore section, he played Superpowers and Loose acoustically. On the first night, he said he was running out of time and had to pay additional for it, but last second he played Baby Blue.
- The shows went for about 1.5 hours (8:10-9:45).
General:
- First 10-20 mins are the camera panning on the crowd, depending on when everyone gets on the stage.
- He was quite low key on the first night, but the music was a bit more high key. Comparatively, he had more energy on the second night but the arrangements were a bit more low key.
- He really enjoys the atmospheric instrumentals, letting it sit and swell repeatedly for many songs.
- Both nights, he said the sky/sea section of Please Do Not Lean was his favourite part.
- First night, he asked if gum was still illegal in Singapore, to which people cheered to tell him it was.
- He did different things during the singalong sections (during which he didn’t sing). On the first night he sat on the ground and watched the clips on the screen, while on the second night, he pulled the chair towards the front of the stage facing the crowd.
- During Best Part, the camera pans on the standing crowd. But unlike the last tour, it didn’t linger on people’s faces for very long.
- Michael Scott appeared on the screen for a short bit on the first night. There were less clips playing on the screen on the second night.
- There were 2 (?) girls down at the very front in standing section B on the first night who were super enthusiastic and guessed basically every song in the first few beats - and they asked him to come to Brazil but he said he didn’t understand what they said. Daniel acknowledged them a few times!
- Personal complaint but there was a group of kids in the seated section that just talked non-stop the entire concert. I don’t mind people being disruptive in the pursuit of enjoyment, but this was something else.
- He said for this tour he won’t be doing ‘leave the stage’ encores, he just has everyone on the stage leave, and sings 2 songs acoustically.
- The VIP items include a lanyard with a QR code to his mem-re page and a beige long sleeve shirt with the words “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god”, the words of which I vaguely remember he has posted on his IG story.
Closing thoughts on the audience: I’ve been to a few concerts in Singapore, but this was my first time in the pit here. We should have more enthusiasm and not be afraid to physically express our enjoyment of the music. The first night was definitely a lot more dead - which also has to do with Daniel’s energy- but I hope as a whole we can do a little more to express our enjoyment and enthusiasm as opposed to standing still to record songs throughout the concert. I’m one of those people who go back and listen to recordings, even years after, so I do understand. However, as a first night of a world tour, it was a bit underwhelming. Also, this crowd skewed a lot younger than I expected, which may explain the lack of concert experience.
Overall, I’d say this concert was in line with my expectations - Daniel performed soulfully with his vocals on point, and amazing backup vocals. He’s bringing back the soul in live performance.
Also, I’m glad he’s not performing by a strict set list anymore, which is what he did on his previous tours. There’s a clip of him saying how he was quite bored during those performances, which I was not surprised by. I remember standing close enough to him in the crowd in 2023 and noticing that he looked a bit glazed over at points, and at that time both concerts I attended had the exact same set list and performance points other than 1 song variation.
I hope everyone attending the upcoming performances have an amazing time. And considering he has the gospel choir to accompany, I pray that he performs Freudian to the full extent and someone uploads an amazing quality version on YouTube. Thank you for reading!