I’ll admit it—I arrived at Leeds’ First Direct Arena as a newcomer, nudged there by my daughter’s insistence that Dermot Kennedy was essential. Arena shows can often feel distant, more spectacle than soul. I wasn’t convinced.

I was wrong.

From his striking entrance on top of a jagged, illuminated rock, Kennedy set the tone, launching into ‘Honest’ and ‘Wasted’ taken from his latest album Weight of The Woods, with an urgency that felt deeply personal. By the time fans favourite ‘Outnumbered’ landed, the atmosphere had shifted entirely. What struck me most was the crowd: not just one generation, but all of them—young fans, parents, older couples—singing together, word for word. Kennedy often stepped back, letting those voices take over, visibly moved by the scale and sincerity of it.

The staging was cinematic—a glowing woodland of cool blues and burning orange, but never overshadowed the connection at its core. ‘Lost’, delivered under a solitary spotlight with handwritten lyrics drifting behind him, felt intimate despite the vastness of the arena. That sincerity defined the night.

‘An Evening I Won’t Forget’ brought the first real stillness, its fragile delivery and piercing violin holding thousands in silence. Moments later, ‘All My Friends’ saw him elevated once more, surrounded by flickering light, yet still reaching outward, never detached.

Then came ‘After Rain’, and with it, release. The arena roared “you won’t go lonely” back at him, a shared, generational chorus that felt genuinely powerful.

A stripped-back B-stage moment, introduced by his mum’s voice, revealed even more honesty, before a final surge – ‘Turnstile’, ‘Better Days’, ‘Power Over Me’, lifted the room again.

Closing with new favourite song ‘Funeral’, the message was clear: Dermot Kennedy doesn’t just play to a crowd—he connects, unites, and makes an arena feel personal.

Dermot released ‘The Weight of the Woods’ earlier this year, and it became his third consecutive #1 album, be sure to check it out.