Live Review: Fancy Hagood at O2 Institute 3, Birmingham

Fancy Hagood has come a long way from the artist who first arrived on the scene under the name Who Is Fancy. Two albums into his solo recording career, the rising country star is now firmly in control of his own story — a journey that began with a false start as a pop protégé under the direction of Scooter Braun, before ultimately leading him towards the country music that feels far more authentically his own.

His most recent EP, Baby Jake, is something of a reclamation project. It sees Hagood revisit songs he wrote during those early years and take ownership of them as the artist he has grown into. Tonight, that sense of reclaiming the past while moving forward is at the heart of the show.

Before Hagood takes to the stage, First Time Flyers — who topped the UK's Country Albums Chart last year with their debut album — make a compelling case for themselves. The four-piece showcase material from their debut alongside a teasing glimpse of their forthcoming sophomore record, delivering killer harmonies, an infectious friendliness and a playful chemistry that makes it difficult to look away. They bounce effortlessly between one another, clearly enjoying themselves in the process. If they can bottle that energy as they continue to grow, it's easy to see them becoming the UK's answer to Little Big Town.

A short interlude follows, during which a sizeable portion of the crowd heads towards the merch stand to meet the openers, before Fancy Hagood quietly strolls onto the stage. Armed with nothing more than a guitar, he launches into his own take on the Spice Girls' Say You'll Be There, a song lifted from Baby Jake.

It's a cover, but a cover done very, very well. Hagood completely makes it his own, stripping away the pop gloss of the original and replacing it with his unmistakably country-inflected delivery. It feels fully Fancy — familiar enough to trigger recognition, but transformed enough to stand on its own. Given his own brief dalliance with pop, there's something particularly fitting about him reclaiming a pop classic and reshaping it in his inimitable country style.

From there, Hagood embarks on his own version of the Eras Tour. He quickly acknowledges the chapter of his career he won't be revisiting, joking that he underwent regular therapy to overcome the Who Is Fancy years. Instead, the journey begins with 2021's Southern Curiosity, meanders through 2024's American Spirit, and eventually arrives at the new material that points towards where he's heading next.

The storytelling between songs is every bit as entertaining as the music itself. Hagood is armed with a seemingly endless supply of stories, self-deprecating humour and an easy rapport with the Birmingham crowd. Yet for all the laughs, there's one element of the performance that ultimately towers above everything else: that voice.

Soulful, rich and remarkably expressive, Hagood's vocal has the room completely entranced. Whether he's revisiting older material, putting his own spin on a pop classic or introducing something new, there is a depth and warmth to his delivery that makes even the most familiar songs feel freshly discovered.

This is an artist who has clearly spent time figuring out who he is — and, more importantly, who he wants to be. Tonight, Fancy Hagood isn't looking backwards. He's taking the pieces of his past that still mean something, reshaping them on his terms and building something distinctly his own. Birmingham gets to see the result: a country artist with a pop history, a soulful voice and a story that is finally entirely his to tell.