30 November 2025 (gig)
3 d
The hot sense of anticipation was thick in the air as Manchester’s glorious Albert Hall awaited the UK debut of Cameron Winter as a solo artist. The tension in the air was palpable. The crowd was heaving and dense more than an hour before stage time. Nobody had any intention of missing this. Nobody really knew exactly what to expect either but everybody knew that whatever was to follow would be important.
Winter arrived on stage to his sole stand-up piano with a shy smile on his face. He sheepishly sat down and, ever the contradiction, began to play with a confidence and assurance that absolutely belies his years. As he got himself warmed up with ‘Try As I May’ and ‘The Rolling Stones’, Winter sent the room into a quiet delirium with the ‘Heavy Metal’ standout ‘Love Takes Miles’. As he started playing the opening piano chords, the audience went crazy with a quiet fever. Too excited to keep it all in but too attentive to want to miss even a single note. I honestly don’t think I have ever seen a standing audience in Manchester be so deathly silent for an entire show before. Nobody could bear to miss anything. Failure not to immerse yourself completely in these songs on this night in this setting would simply have been an act of treason.
Winter’s vocals rose and rose throughout the night as if they were ascending to heaven. His falsetto sounded holy and flawless before collapsing crushingly into deep, low monotone rumbles. Whilst his distinct and spiritual vocals are one his main characteristics, what really sets Winter apart is his songs. Most seasoned veterans would do unspeakable deals with the devil to have a song like ‘Love Takes Miles’ in their arsenal. As Winter carried on through most of ‘Heavy Metal’ and its many highlights, it became abundantly clear that this is a generational songwriter showcasing himself and his songs. He didn’t speak to the audience much, he didn’t need to. Winter is confident enough to let his songs do all the talking for him.
Winter’s lyrics are simultaneously strange, funny and yet incredibly sincere and one of the new songs perhaps captured this most perfectly with the line ‘I hate what they did to Jesus but I love Saturday mornings.’ Nobody else is writing lyrics as wonderfully strange as these and it was a pleasure to be able to hear these fantastic new songs before they inevitably capture the ears of the rest of the world when they are finally released. Tying the set up with and incredible and cacophonous ‘0$’ and ‘Take It With You’, Winter walked off the stage just as he walked on, quiet and unassuming. The tension in the air had dissipated and what was left was joy and peace. Everybody knew that they had just witnessed something brilliant.
Some shows are good. If you’re lucky enough, some shows are even great. Cameron Winter in Manchester on Sunday night felt like something more though. It felt important. It felt like an arrival. It felt like a true ‘I was there’ night. Those sorts of nights really don’t come around too often.
Next year, Winter will be back with his band Geese and there will be similar amounts of fever and anticipation in the room. Except it will be for a million different reasons than on Sunday night. One reason will remain the same though. People just want to hear his songs. Regardless of the hype, Cameron Winter is only just getting started.
