Stephen Sanchez in Paris

Stephen Sanchez in Paris for the opening night of his Sing Love Again Tour last night. The American crooner swooned the audience at Salle Pleyel, and the City of Love obliged.

Tors warm up the room

Opening the night were Tors, a three-piece indie folk outfit from Devon, England: brothers Matt and Theo Weedon, grandsons of legendary British guitarist Bert Weedon, alongside drummer Jack Bowden. Their set was warm and effortless, built around driving rhythms and the kind of close, instinctive harmonies that come from people who have been singing together since childhood. Think Eagles-adjacent Americana with a distinctly British countryside soul. A fine appetiser, and a sign of good curatorial taste from Sanchez’s camp.

Stephen Sanchez swoons Paris

Stephen Sanchez is 23 years old and sounds like he was born in 1957. The California-born, Nashville-based singer has built his identity on a sound that sheds modern artifice in favour of swoony, reverb-drenched pop with the lineage of his classic roots. Nowhere does that land better than in Paris, on the opening night of his Sing Love Again tour, ahead of his sophomore album Love, Love, Love (out May 8). From the first note, Sanchez commanded the Salle Pleyel with the easy confidence of someone twice his age: hips rolling, hair swept back, every gesture borrowed from an Elvis playbook he has clearly drawn light inspiration from.

The crowd, initially subdued in the way Parisian concert crowds often are, warmed slowly but surely, and by the second half the room was his completely.

The Setlist

The setlist drew heavily from his 2023 debut Angel Face, with the big hits landing exactly as expected: Evangeline sparked a mass singalong, and Until I Found You, the breakout single that went multi-platinum and generated over two billion streams, brought the most visible wave of emotion through the room. High closed the night on a euphoric note. Midway through, Sanchez stripped things back for a ten-minute acoustic set, stepping to the front of the stage with just a guitar, the intimacy a welcome contrast to the fuller-band moments. The night’s most poignant highlight came when he was joined onstage by his fiancée Devi, French singer and one half of their joint project Dress & Tie, for a live debut of Me Without You. A love song performed in the city of love, by an engaged couple, the night before their album cycle begins in earnest: it’s hard to script something that neat.

Sanchez is still building his live presence into something truly memorable. The subdued early energy in the room suggested he hasn’t fully cracked the cold-open yet, but the raw material is undeniable. The voice, the repertoire, and the genuine romantic sincerity he brings to every song make a compelling case that he’s in this for the long haul. Love, Love, Love can’t come soon enough.

Stephen Sanchez in Paris