Glistening disco balls above, the mellow ambience of The Grace in Islington was the setting of a warm, wholesome evening with Boy In Space for his intimate UK headline debut.
Real name Robin Lundbäck, Boy In Space has spent his whole adult life within the music industry. Since emerging as the youngest of the three siblings in the boy band JTR in the early 2010s, Robin’s otherworldly voice has always set him apart, his countertenor vocals soaring between upper registers with an ease most of us could only dream of. Launching his solo career under the Boy In Space moniker in 2018 and racking up over half a billion streams in the process, his sights are now set on a debut album releasing this Autumn. In anticipation, the Swedish singer-songwriter took to the road for the first time in seven years this month with his ‘Running On Dreams Tour’, stopping first in London ahead of a slew of dates across mainland Europe.
As concertgoers shuffled into the tightly packed Islington venue, trepidation grew as fellow angel-voiced Swede Phillip Tillström (aka DREAMDNVR) took to the stage. A childhood friend of Robin’s, “most of my songs are sad about love that doesn’t work out”, he admitted, acoustic guitar in hand. Despite proclaiming his nervousness at only his second show as a solo artist, DREAMDNVR delivered a set of heart-rending tracks, complete with precise, expressively ornamented vocals and lush but deft acoustic guitar playing. Recent single ‘Runaway’ hit the audience in its feels before ‘Lighthouse’, a song written as part of duo project Hearts & Colors, further pulled on their heart strings. A final hurrah came from his tender cover of Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full of Stars’, received with cheers and applause by a crowd evidently familiar with the Swede’s viral cover, mere miles away from where the British superband were formed.
Rolling past 9 o’clock, Boy In Space took to the stage, opening his set with an acoustic rendition of his 2020 single ‘Caroline’. Joined by his older brother John on backing vocals, both would strum their Taylor acoustic guitars with beautiful resonance across their 15-track set, offering an organic warmth to Boy In Space’s more pop-produced back catalogue of hits. Dressed down in a plaid shirt, Robin’s charming youthfulness underplayed that across the evening he played tracks written as long as 11 years ago. “Wow London you are gorgeous, on the outside and on the inside. Double whammy!”, he laughed.
Boy In Space’s discography is frequently bleak, and as was his setlist that night; armed with his heavenly singing voice, Robin traversed themes of lonely isolation, post-relationship bitterness and covid-induced senses of loss. Yet the prevailing emotion in that room was togetherness, weathering a storm of darkness as one community united by love for the Swedish singer-songwriter’s touching music. With mournful harmonies filling out the brothers’ acoustic guitar duet, ‘Drown’ typified this sensation in a standout track with powerful lyrics such as “you sunk my ship and then you let me drown”. Robin tells us wittily how the song was inspired by combining ruminations on Ross and Rachael from Friends with a borrowed Phil Collins chord progression, before earnestly admitting that his mother cried when he first played it to her. Shades of azures and magentas shining from above, the song’s cathartic quality emanated for all to hear, and find solace in.
His bittersweet recent single ‘Who’s Crying When I’m Leaving?’ offered a glimpse into the introspective world of Boy In Space’s upcoming album, described that night as “honest, naked, just me and everything I’m going through”. Later, the unreleased ‘Switcharoo’ gave fans another preview into his new material, wryly admitting that his album wasn’t all sad songs, but love songs too.
To jubilant cheers, DREAMDNVR returned to the stage for ‘Amnesia’, as Robin ascended to a higher harmony above Phillip’s deeper rumble and virtuosic plucking. The crowd joined in for the chorus, the verses – even the adlibs. “I just had no idea that people would be singing along to my music,” Robin admitted. “I forgot, I think! That’s what seven years will do.”
Across the evening, Robin’s carefree chatting with the crowd was disarming, creating genuine intimacy between artist and audience. Soft renditions of career-defining older hits ‘7up’ and ‘Cold’– as well as a tender cover of Alphaville’s 80s anthem ‘Forever Young’ – drew fervent cheers from a crowd with a palpably deep connection to Boy In Space’s music. Following rounds of applause for fans that travelled from Canada, Singapore and Scotland, as well as a travelling ‘Girls In Space’ trio from Washington and New York, Robin lingering after the show’s end to meet and speak to far-travelling fans.
Keep an eye out for Boy In Space’s debut album releasing later this year – if his voice doesn’t leave you stunned, the heart and soul of an artist whose music has already touched so many is a powerful force. And for fans eagerly waiting to see Boy In Space perform over the next month, be ready for a night you’ll never forget.
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Words: Taran Will
Photographer: Issy Ciavola Mooney and Taran Will