What to know
- Teddy Swims recalled his first Toronto concert at the Rivoli during his Oct. 5 Scotiabank Arena show.
- Swims said he and his band were surviving on about $20 a day when they arrived in Toronto in January 2020.
- He thanked Roots for giving the struggling musicians clothes, saying he owned only a few T-shirts at the time.Swims’ Jan. 30, 2020 Rivoli concert was part of his first headlining tour, shortly after signing with Warner Records.
- His next album, UGLY, is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2027, followed by a European and U.K. arena tour beginning in March.
Iconic Queen Street club the Rivoli and Canadian clothing retailer Roots were at the heart of Teddy Swims’ memories of his first Toronto show in 2020, he told the crowd at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 5.
“We played at this little place called the Rivoli,” he recalled a few songs into his nearly two-hour set, which opened with the soulful “The Door” and ended with his 2023 breakthrough single “Lose Control,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “And I’m so excited that this is just marking something so special off the bucket list in my mind here at this arena.”
The Georgia-born singer, two weeks into his North American arena tour that ends in November, recalled arriving in Toronto in January 2020, just before the pandemic, when he and his band were struggling to get by.
“We came here in two Sprinter vans. We played a 200-cap room and we were so broke at the time,” he said. “It used to be we’d get like 20 bucks a day apiece. We’d either eat or drink that day — and we usually did the latter.
“The sweet people over at the Roots down the road, they gave us a bunch of clothes, and that was great because I had like three T-shirts to my name at the time, and it was freezing.”
He said they were in the house tonight and wanted to say a “big thank you to them for letting some struggling artists get through it, man.”
Looking out at a sea of fans surrounding the T-shaped stage with a B-stage at the end of the catwalk, the Rivoli-and-Roots story underscored how far the 34-year-old, born Jaten Dimsdale in Conyers, a suburb of Atlanta, had come. This UGLY Tour will be followed January 22 by his next full-length album UGLY, then he will tour overseas.
A reminder not to judge a book by its cover, the bearded singer with face and neck tattoos and earlobe plugs contrasts with the vulnerability of his lyrics. He signed to Warner at the end of 2019 after earning millions of YouTube views for his covers, particularly Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One,” which he dedicated to his mom and now has over 278 million views. It’s been a steady trajectory ever since for Swims whose soulful voice moves between a gritty rasp and smooth warmth.
After releasing several EPs between 2021 and 2022, collaborating with artists including Thomas Rhett, Meghan Trainor and Illenium, Swims released his debut studio album, I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 1), in 2023 — from which “Lose Control” propelled him to international stardom — and, in 2025, I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2), blending soul, R&B and pop, with flashes of rock.
Before Swims took the stage, a video paid tribute to his home state, soundtracked by Atlanta group D4L’s 2006 crunk hit “Laffy Taffy.” He emerged singing “The Door” against a massive industrial backdrop of scaffolding, metal staircases, bricks and graffiti, with an Atlanta-inspired cityscape behind him. The song ended in fiery explosions. “Toronto, how the hell are you?” he shouted before launching into “Hammer to the Heart.”
The multi-storey set incorporated bmoving backdrops and imagery inspired by Atlanta landmarks such as the MARTA transit system, a giant purple neon MASQUERADE sign, complete with a burned-out Q, and a Motor Hotel sign. For all the production’s spectacle, Swims’ masterful voice remained the focus as he moved casually about the stage, sometimes up the stairs, and along the catwalk, where fans passed up signs for him to sign while he continued to sing.
After “Funeral,” Swims told the crowd about his early Toronto visit and introduced his backing band, Freak Freely. “These are my best pals, the best damn band on the whole damn planet,” he said, before shouting out MarcLo, who had opened. “That dude right there has written about 50% of my music with me, man, so whether you know it or not, you’re a massive MarcLo fan.” He also mentioned the other opener St. Paul & The Broken Bones, calling them his “new friends.”
Swims explained that the Atlanta imagery was his way of bringing home to the cities he visits on tour. “If you see a bunch of Atlanta stuff, just know we get a little homesick on the road all the time, so it was our way of just kind of maybe bringing our home to your home and showing you a little bit more about us,” he said.
A fire hydrant and telephone booth rose from beneath the B-stage for “911,” with Swims answering the ringing phone before moving into “Mr. Know It All,” seated on a metal bench.
“Some of you might know what’s about to happen,” he said for “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming,” referring to the hot dog cart onstage. Real hot dogs were fired into the audience from a hot-dog-shaped cannon, with Swims assuring fans they were warm and safe to eat.
Later, wearing a tank top and a jacket patterned with faces that appeared to be his own, he reminisced about his early days with Jesse Hampton. “We used to play in his dad’s basement,” he said, marvelling at the journey from those humble beginnings to Scotiabank Arena.
For a quieter interlude, with guitarist Jesse Hampton and keyboardist Jairus Hardge, at the foot of the B-stage, Swims played songs requested earlier via a QR code on the video screen before the show. He explained that some of his favourite songs were the ones fewer people knew, then performed the fan-voted winner, “She Loves The Rain,” acoustically as phone flashlights illuminated the arena. “Thank you for all the stars up there,” he said. “You have no idea how much you changed my life.”
He also joked about the teleprompter disguised as a monitor onstage, explaining that it was there “in case I mess up, like, I tend to do.”
Hampton subsequently left the stage, leaving Swims with his keyboard player for “Some Things I’ll Never Know.”
“This is a new one and I’m really happy with it,” he said, playing the UGLY single “Perfect Man,” as in no such thing as.
He then disappeared and another video played of vintage Atlanta, with the track “Bad Kids” by Bad Lips, circa 1995, while the backdrop was altered, a monstrous swirly-eyed neon skull at the centre, ans “welcome to,” MASQUERADE and Motor Hotel signs. He emerged wearing short and an Atlanta Braves ballcap and a jacket patterned with what looked like his own face. ‘
“I want to do something a little unconventional,” he said, explaining he wanted to play a couple of songs to get feedback from “people that love me the most, the people that actually get good feedback, and are nice to me, because a lot of times, people online can say stuff like, ‘well, Jake Paul let himself go,’ call me Toast Malone and stuff like that. And now I fear that even Jelly Roll has gotten skinnier than me,” he quipped.
Another QR code appeared on the screen and he asked people to vote after he played the two songs: “Rain,” a ballad, which was the better song, and the groovier and heavier “Cut Me Loose,” which need something, heavier drums perhaps, which ended up winning by 59.9%
Swims also played a cover of Van Halen’s “Jump,” a classic yes but not a great song the first time around and not any better as a cover, followed by his track with Illenium, a ballad “All That Really Matters.”
As the night drew to a close, he continued to sign signs, removed his ballcap and put his hand to his heart in gratitude. He ended with the soulful ballad, “Break Up In Reverse,” and then the cover that changed his life, “You’re Still The One.”
“Thank you for making my dreams come true,” he told the crowd before “Bed on Fire,” which he started laying down and was filled with pyrotechnics.
The encore rocked with “Goodbye’s Been Good to You,” accompanied by a cascading waterfall of sparks, and the closer “Lose Control,” the song that helped propel him from a 200-cap room at the Rivoli to Scotiabank Arena.
