Olly Murs at Birmingham Genting Arena, 25th March 2017

Last Saturday I finally went to my first concert of the year! It was about time as I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms. First of all I have to apologise about how late this post is, it’s almost been two weeks since the concert and I was planning on posting this earlier but I moved house last Friday and we still don’t have wifi. I’m currently writing this sitting in Starbucks, that’s how desperate I am. But at least I have a peach green tea lemonade so that’s kind of a bonus. (Update: we have wifi now, thank god for that.)

Anyway, let’s talk about the concert. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Olly live more times than any other artist now, which is quite impressive. Yet every single time I see him he always puts on an even more amazing show than the last. I’ll never get bored of watching him perform; he always puts so much energy, passion and fun into his shows!

As always, the build up to the start of the concert was tedious and the terrible excuse for a support act, two DJ’s from a local radio station playing the same overplayed songs that get played on the radio ten times a day attempting to get the crowd pumped up but failing miserably didn’t do anything to help that. In fact, they made it worse. Nevertheless that made it all the more exciting when the room finally went dark and a digital clock flashing up numbers counting down from 24 – representing his latest album ‘24 Hours’ – appeared on the big screens. Eventually they started counting down from 10 and everyone joined in the countdown, I thought that was a really great idea because it set your heart racing and really got the anticipation and excitement building before Olly appeared on stage.

He opened with the first single from his latest album, ‘You Don’t Know Love’, which was a fabulous choice because it got everyone up on their feet, singing and dancing along from the very start. He continued this theme through the next few songs, so for the first ten minutes of the show I don’t think I stopped dancing and singing along at the top of my lungs, which is exactly how a concert should be! Olly’s interaction with the crowd from the beginning was also one of my favourite things about the show, he’s such a genuine down-to-earth person and is always cracking jokes and making sure everyone’s having a good time.

Most of the setlist was, as you’d expect, made up of songs from Olly’s most recent album which was released last year. But there were also some old favourites thrown in here and there, including ‘Heart Skips a Beat’ and ‘Dance With Me Tonight’, which once again got everyone on their feet dancing around. He promised us that we were the best crowd he’d seen on the tour so far, but we all remained sceptical as he tried to convince us with that cheeky grin. Having said that, the crowd was pretty loud, but the only thing I’d complain about was that everyone in our block kept sitting down during the slow songs, what is that about?! At a concert I always like to stand the entire time, what’s the point in sitting and standing all the time? It’s a concert, not church! I guess that’s only a tiny complaint though and that’s just my opinion and nothing to do with Olly, but it does bug me when the people around me don’t seem to be appreciating the concert as much as I am.

Of course, a concert wouldn’t be a concert without the slow, chilled out parts. In between all the dancing and jumping around Olly sang a few deep and meaningful songs that brought about the inevitable lights waving in the crowd moment, which by now you should definitely know is one of my favourite things in the world. Olly showed his vulnerable side when he sang ‘Flaws’, one of my favourite songs from the newest album. The song really shows off his incredible vocals which you don’t necessarily associate with him usually, but seriously his voice should get more credit than just the boppy pop songs you hear on the radio because it’s amazing. He also sang one of my old favourites ‘I Need You Now’ which always gets me all goosebumpy because I relate to it so much, it’s basically about being forever alone but in a more beautiful and meaningful way. Later on he also sang ‘Dear Darlin’’ and this was a special one because before it he talked about how it’s inevitable that we lose people we love in life, and he dedicated this song to all those people we’ve lost in our lives and it was really lovely and I must admit I had tears in my eyes the entire time. There’s a video of it on my Instagram (clare.lxuise) if you want to witness it with your own eyes. It won’t be as beautiful as it was at the time, but I think I captured the moment pretty well.

One of my favourite parts of the show was the 10 minute ‘workout’ as Olly called it. He said that we had to dance non-stop for 10 minutes as he sang a medley of songs all the way from the 70’s to the present day, and that meant we didn’t need to do a workout the next morning. Not that I do one anyway, but I was definitely up for the challenge. He sang a mash-up including ‘That’s The Way I Like It’, ‘U Can’t Touch This’ and ‘Can’t Stop The Feeling’, and it was so much fun to just dance around and sing along without stopping for ten whole minutes. As I said before, that’s exactly what concerts should be about; forgetting about the outside world, forgetting about everything else and just losing yourself in the music and enjoying yourself more than you ever have.

After he’d gone off stage the first time, Olly came back on and sang ‘Kiss You’ for the encore. Then he finished off with ‘Years and Years’, one of my absolute favourites from ‘24 Hours’. Before he sang it, he did a really sweet little speech about how it’s been 8 years since he was on The X Factor and that’s where this whole journey started and that he wouldn’t be where he is today without all of us supporting him. I genuinely almost cried because it was so cute. He’s so grateful for all his success and he never fails to remind us how thankful he is to us. The choice of ‘Years and Years’ as the final song was so fitting; it’s about being by someone’s side for years and knowing that your love for them will never end, and that’s such a wonderful and lovely message for Olly to have left the show on.

So, I had an amazing time seeing Olly again, and I definitely think this is one of his best tours ever. I’m seeing him yet again in the summer at one of his outdoor shows which I am so excited for!

Have you seen Olly live or would you like to? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, I love hearing from you guys!

As always thank you so much for reading, x