Sam Smith Covers Amy Winehouse, Elvis Presley, Marvin Gaye & Chic at Lollapalooza

And Sam looked good doing it!

 

@samsmithworld headlining the Bud Light Stage. Photo by @thesprawlstory

A photo posted by lollapalooza (@lollapalooza) on Aug 1, 2015 at 7:48pm PDT

Later on in the set, Smith also covered a little bit of the Elvis Presley slow dance classic, "Can't Help Falling In Love With You." An artist pressed into playing big headline gigs with only an album to his name, Smith's jukebox tendencies kept the set fresh, balancing out the sleepier Lonely Hour deep cuts that will need to fill out his stage time until he has more festival-friendly jams under his belt. 

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But of course, it was more than covers. The set swelled into majestic peaks when Smith busted out "Like I Can" and "Money on My Mind," the latter of which he described as being inspired by some studio collaborators who were only in it for the money. Speaking of which, Sam was in a talkative mood. He gave numerous shout-outs to the city of Chicago ("I know I shouldn't say this but this has been one of the most amazing festivals I've ever played in my life") and even one to his sister Mabel, who was celebrating her birthday. 

Watch Sam perform a little bit of "Stay With Me":

 

#samsmith #lollapalooza2015 #lollapalooza #lolla #lolla2015 #chicago #staywhitme

A video posted by AllanXimenez (@alanximenez) on Aug 1, 2015 at 10:18pm PDT

"This record was a breakthrough for me because it was the first time I was truly honest in my music," he confessed. In that spirit, he described how "I've Told You Now" was about getting drunk in London and confessing his love to a man he fancied and how "Make It To Me" was a love letter to his future soul mate, "whoever it may be." 

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Getting towards the end of the set, there were of course his high profile collaborations -- "Latch" with Disclosure and "La La La" with Naughty Boy -- both of which he performed soulful renditions of, in the style of his own album, sans the collaborators. And finally, he closed out the heartwarming set with -- what else -- "Stay With Me." 

Throughout the set, Sam's vocals were on point as expected, complimented time and time again by his backing singers, whom he's been touring with for two years now. Smith, clearly a well-oiled touring machine at this point, will continue the heartstring-tugging on his North American tour, which runs across the western part of the continent for the next two-and-a-half weeks.