“You may not know that I helped to write this song,” says Mike Posner, clearly underestimating his audience. Not only does everyone here know the Detroit pop-rocker co-authored Justin Bieber’s 2012 hit Boyfriend, they rousingly chip in as Posner sings it. He could have dedicated a lengthy segment of this show to songs he’s written for big names, Sugar by Maroon 5 and Wiz Khalifa’s French Inhale among them. Writing those is what he was doing in the six-year gap between his debut hit, Cooler Than Me, and the recent drug-decrying chart-topper, I Took a Pill in Ibiza.
Given this second shot at success, the “class B celebrity” – as he dubs himself on his engaging blog – is making the most of it. His first London gig since 2011 is warm and inclusive: blond and conservatively dressed in a suit jacket and button-down shirt, he looks like Eminem’s Republican brother, but emits charm. The hits are here, but tracks from his two albums get the most welly.
The hazy voice deployed on I Took a Pill escalates into prime soulful falsetto on Drug Dealer Girl, but drops to a songwriterly quaver on Buried in Detroit. Wearing his acoustic guitar high up, shield-style, he duels with the saxophonist – who’s introduced as Mr Sexiness – on Be As You Are, and leads his five-piece band in a show of midnight-at-Glasto anthemising on In the Arms of a Stranger. Give Posner a string of festival dates this summer and this comeback could be permanent.
• Mike Posner is at Capital Summertime Ball, Wembley Stadium, London, 11 June.
