If there’s one thing Leon Thomas has put in his 10,000 hours at, it’s performing. The stage has been Leon’s second home for almost 20 years since his Broadway debut in the Lion King at the age of 10. He hasn’t slowed down since then either, many people met him on screens, first as Tyrone in Backyardigans, then as Andre in Victorious and more recently as Eddie in Season 2 of Insecure. Even when we weren’t seeing him on our screens, there are very few big names in music that Leon Thomas hasn’t worked for either behind the pen or behind the boards with the likes of Ariana Grande, Drake, SZA, Coco Jones and, legendary producer, songwriter and Leon’s own mentor, Babyface to name just a few. Credentials stacked, it only made sense that 2024’s MUTT album put Leon Thomas on the map, earning him 6 nominations and 2 wins at the 2026 Grammy Awards. So when the New York City native pulled up to the Eventim Apollo on the 3rd of April for the final European date of his MUTTS DON’T HEEL tour with some special friends to mark the occasion, he had nothing left to prove.
From the moment Leon bursts onto stage with the album opener ‘How Fast,’ it feels like he’s celebrating with the crowd especially with its opening line ‘Feel like I just got off the stage at the Grammys’ as he strides across the stage, full of confidence. A few songs in, we get our first surprise guest Ty Dolla $ign coming out to join Leon for ‘Far Fetched’ and ‘Miss U 2,’ followed almost immediately by Leon going head to head with his guitarist, flexing his mastery over 1 of the 5 instruments he’s able to play, later hopping onto the drums for a gut-busting solo as his drummer took over the keyboard, letting his talents, his drummer’s talents and the guitarists’ talents shine together.
Watching this performance, especially as Leon plays some of the songs from his most recent psychedelic project Pholks, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to musical legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz and Prince, ripping guitar solos on his knees and at one point on his back! The atmosphere in the Apollo was a combination of awe and ecstatic excitement amongst the crowd, exemplified by Leon stopping the show midway to ensure fans who needed to could get out of the packed crowd safely. Sonically, the set list spanned Leon’s entire musical career from his 2018 album Genesis all the way through to now, showing all sides of his creativity from psychedelic rock to classic funk to R&B to neo-soul with his tribute to Floetry’s ‘Say Yes’ during his performance of his song ‘Yes It Is’ which was also nominated for the Grammy for Best R&B Song this year.
Our next surprise guest was Sasha Keable for their 2025 Summer release ‘move it along’ for which Leon took his first break in the show, allowing Sasha to completely own the spotlight, a task for which she is more than prepared. Bathed in blue light, backed by Leon’s incredible band, Sasha sings her heart out for the audience and they sang every word along with her, just a peek at her huge star power as people sang and cheered her on with Leon joining back up with her and closing the song out with angelic vocals. The surprise guests weren’t done there either, not long after Sasha leaving the stage, Odeal appears for their collab ‘Miami’ from his 2025 EP The Summer That Saved Me and the crowd goes wild again. Seeing two recently recognised genre-defying artists with years of work under their belts be celebrated with this much love is enough to bring a tear to your eye.
If there’s one thing you should take away from this article, go and see Leon Thomas live. A video simply could never do his artistry justice, this is a man who can play 5 instruments, who produced or wrote some of the biggest hits of the last 13 years, played an instrumental part of many people’s childhoods and he is just getting started.
Follow Leon Thomas On Instagram
Words: Cleopatra Bailey
Photography: Cellotapes, Isaiah Johns and Chloe Redman