WORDS KEV CASTLE / IMAGES PAUL DIXON
CASSA JACKSON
Opening up the show is a gifted and talented young lady called Cassa Jackson, a name I’d not heard of before, but one that I’ll be looking for in the future. Her songs are like reading her intimate diary. Stories about her exes, who’s lied to her, and the other women her exes have slept with. And Cassa is open and forthright, naming Sophie in her song of the same name as one of the infidelities.
There’s a lovely modern R’n’B/ pop feel about the songs which blend with the Blue songs. There’s a taste of Cassa’s catchiness in the songs “Fame Looks Good On You”, “Parallel Universe” and “Suits You”, and with her eye-catching costume, here’s a new singer that will be hard to miss in 2023.
MEGAN McKENNA
Megan McKenna is the second support act at The Motorpoint Arena, and to be honest, I didn’t know an awful lot about Megan and her music before tonight. She is of course known for reality TV shows like “Ex On the Beach”, “Celebrity Big Brother” and “The Only Way Is Essex”, so it was a hugely pleasant surprise to hear that Megan is a really great, accomplished Country and western singer. It’s also very apparent and encouraging that Megan is utilising her plentiful talents as a songwriter. Always refreshing to see artists bringing original and new material out on tour for us all to enjoy!
Along with the self penned songs like the beautiful “This”, and the anthemic “The Good, the Bad and The Bitch”, Megan included a couple of crowd pleasing cover versions; the rocky “Everytime”, a cover of Britney’s ballad, and a stomping version of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”, all with a Country twang, to match her pink outfit and black stetson. It was a joy to see the swathes of arms swaying side to side above head height from the bubbling crowd.
Megan looked stunning in a sparkling, fuscia pink, trouser suit and her obligatory Stetson. Kind of wished Megan had a longer set for us to enjoy!
BWITCHED
B*witched are on many people’s “guilty pleasures” list with their catchy slices of celtic pop, “Rollercoaster”, “Blame It on the Weatherman”, “Jessie Hold On” and of course, their number one smash “C’Est La Vie”, all of which were featured in their playlist at the Motorpoint. They also covered Wilson Phillips‘ “Hold On”, as if it had been written for them and we were treated to an exclusive hearing of their excellent and fresh new single “It’s My Birthday” which will be out in March 2023.
B*witched are twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O’Carroll, they formed the band in 1997 and here they are twenty-five years on still performing a very slick and entertaining stage show.
As polished artists it was no surprise the choreography, playfulness and timing were all bang on. It was hard to believe they were so far into a gruelling tour given how much fun the band were having on that stage! The crowd joined in the fun as the arena team launched a large selection of huge balloons into the crowd… fortunately they didn’t make their way back to stage and disrupt the great set. Good luck for the last 3 dates and hope to catch you all again soon!
BLUE
It’s twenty years since Blue released their debut album “All Rise” and here they are in 2022 with the tour to back their new album, “Heart and Soul”.
Anthony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe have all followed separate carers during their hiatus from being boyband members, and have all had varying degrees of success within the recording industry, presenting and theatre work, but they are certainly at their best, on stage as a four-piece R ‘n’ B/pop band.
Just prior to Blue’s appearance on stage, a pianist by the name of Okiem played a couple of lovely pieces, Okiem then played the intro to “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” which brought another massive reaction from the crowd as Blue took to the stage, one by one. And one by one we ticked off the greatest hits of Blue.
People were up dancing by song number two, the title song from their new album, “Heart And Soul”. They performed a Motown medley, “All Rise”, “Bubblin'”, “Make Me Wanna”, plus tracks from the new album. They brought Megan back on stage to duet on “Too Close” and closed with a stripped back version of “One Love”.
All four singers chatted individually to the audience, Anthony and Duncan mentioning just how cold the Arena was, “Taters” was Anthony’s summary of the temperature levels, and they were under the lights on stage.
Their voices have just got better as time has gone on, but that is because they haven’t really stopped working over the last twenty-five years.
Simon’s chocolatey smooth vocals, and his sharp rapping, Duncan’s earthy vocals extracted roars of applause from the practically full arena, Lee has one of the best falsetto voices in music and when he blends that with his powerful soul vocals, he sends shivers up the spine, and then there is Anthony.
Anthony is always the last person mentioned when talking about Blue, but he has a great pop voice and he brings a lot of the comedy to the show, whipping the audience up to a frenzy.
This tour blends new soul with new country, a great Celtic pop sound and twenty years of classic R ‘n’ B pop music. If Mary Berry took all of these ingredients and made a cake from them, she’d call it her party cake, because that is what we got, a great party with tasty ingredients.
Topping it all off was a brilliant light show, great production and an excellent sound system.
What I also need to mention is that this package started bang on time, with the headline slot starting dead on nine o clock and ending right on time as well. Now that is consideration for their audience, and that is also probably why Blue attract massive audiences and can still battle with the best of the new boy bands.
SET LIST
1. Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word (Elton John cover)
2. Heart And Soul
3. Haven’t Found You Yet
4. U Make Me Wanna
5. Magnetic
6. Ultraviolet
7. Paradise
8. Get Ready / Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours / Get Down on It / King of the World
9. Guilty/Long Time
10. Breathe Easy
11. Too Close ( cover) (with Megan McKenna)
12. Dance With Me (112 cover)
13. Curtain Falls
14. Fly by II
15. Bubblin’
16. All Rise
FOLLOW BLUE
FOLLOW BEWITCHED
FOLLOW MEGAM MCKENNA
FOLLOW CASSA JACKSON
