Antony Szmierek

Manchester-based musician and writer Antony Szmierek brings his spoken-word-meets-indie-pop universe to O2 Academy Bournemouth on 16 October 2026. Coming up through poetry nights and performance scenes, he’s built songs around everyday details, street-level snapshots and intimate portraits, delivered with a conversational flow that brushes against rap without losing its melodic thread.

His 2023 EP Poems To Dance To set the tone: spoken delivery and airy hooks riding on understated electronics, somewhere between house inflections and slow-motion hip-hop. The structures stay lean, the arrangements leave room for the words, and the groove keeps a steady pulse under the storytelling. Live, Szmierek can switch between a full-band setup and a more stripped format, always keeping the voice and narrative front and center. The set moves from beat-led pieces to quieter cuts, playing with tension and release, proximity and space. It’s a show built on cadence, rhythm and clear imagery, where the stories land first and the music carries them forward, close to the crowd and light on ornament.