Boyzone + Guy Sebastian + Wonderland @ LG Arena, 2nd March 2011
Well, the Boyz are getting older, and so are their fans. The LG Arena was nearly full, very few men, lots of women in their 30s and 40s. Tonight’s gig was part of Boyzone‘s Brother tour, their first UK tour since the death of Stephen Gateley in Majorca in 2009. His presence ran through the evening as the group reminisced about him, talked of their grief, and repeatedly thanked the crowd for welcoming them back as a foursome.
Boyzone were supported by two acts, Guy Sebastian and Wonderland. Despite a string of albums and number 1 singles in his native Australia, Australian Pop Idol Sebastian left me decidedly underwhelmed.
Accompanied by a very competent session musician called Jimmy (‘We only met today’, confided Guy to the audience), the singer-songwriter’s material failed to grab the audience. I found my mind wandering during his set, my companion was looking around and texting her boyfriend and the girls behind us ignored him almost completely. He has a pleasant enough voice and a competent guitar style but the lyrics were cliched and the rhymes clunky. The first three songs — ‘All to Myself’, ‘Like It Like That’ and ‘Bring Yourself’ passed by with little notice. ‘The Art of Love’ which he has released as a duet with Jordin Sparks was better — more melodic– and the final song, ‘Who’s That Girl?’, one of his Australian hits, was probably the strongest, with a bit of a 50s/60s feel to it, interspersed with rap — but scripted and rather polite rap, not improvised or confrontational.
A smattering of applause, Guy Sebastian left the stage and the screens on either side started showing a Wonderland video; halfway through, Wonderland walked onto the stage. The Anglo-Irish girl band’s first album is due out this May. Put together and managed by Louis Walsh who manages Boyzone, one of the girls is married to Kian Egan from Westlife, so there was a certain incestuous feel to their choice as Boyzone support — looking at their coming tour dates they’re currently supporting both bands.
They struck me as a smooth ensemble, with vocal lead passing from woman to woman as they sang and some good harmonies. Smooth but inexperienced — their attempts to to engage the audience were pretty unsuccessful and they repeatedly tried to persuade the audience to sing along and to stand up and dance along with them. Personally I think they’d do better just to perform the songs and to wait until they’re popular enough for audiences to want to stand up — watching them failing to get people to respond just made me feel rather sorry for them. The set did definitely improve as it went on, and by the end of the fifth song (‘Starlight’, ‘Nothing Moves Me’, ‘Need You Now’, ‘The Only Girl in the World’, ‘Not a Love Song’), the audience was beginning to engage — but the girls need to learn to let it happen spontaneously rather than trying to push it.
We were then rather bizarrely shown a set of advertisements for male underwear, a media company, computer games and a London-based car customising firm. Slightly surreal…..
By the time the Boyz were due to come on, the empty seats in the stadium had filled up. The video crew turned the cameras on the audience, who responded and waved and danced as they saw themselves on the big screens — a shrewd way to raise the level of involvement, I thought. The room went dark, the audience started to scream and stamp their feet, the curtains opened and the band rose into the air on hydraulic platforms, singing one of their new songs, ‘Too Late for Hallelujah’. By the time the band descended slowly to the stage the audience were on their feet and the evening felt like it had finally begun.
Boyzone are consummate showmen. The production was slick, the performances consistently excellent — those of the group, the backing band and the dancers who accompanied each song — and they know how to work an audience. There was a constant change of tempo and scene; each song accompanied by video backdrops (often amusing) and dancers in a variety of increasingly outrageous outfits. The group seemed to be enjoying themselves with lots of interplay between members as they sang.
After around half a dozen songs the mood changed and a five-minute video documentary showing interviews with the group members about Stephen Gateley’s death was shown, followed by a time of reminiscing. Fans, clearly moved, sang along to ‘Gave It All Away’ while footage of Gateley was shown at the back of the stage.
Anecdotes about Steo peppered the rest of the set, some melancholy, some amusing. The only false note of the evening came from a rather contrived routine about who would sing Steo’s high part on ‘No Matter What’ — too predictable, too faked. But the inclusion of Joan Garland to carry the top line was a good idea and the song worked well.
Throughout the evening there was a mixture of old favourites and newly-penned songs, with the newer material generally receiving a more enthusiastic response than the old (although both had the crowd on their feet dancing and singing). At times with the older material the absence of Gateley was clear — the missing top line was noticeable, although the group carried the songs off well despite this.
The final song of the set, ‘Let Your Wall Fall Down’ was powerful, with strong harmonies and high volume drum and guitars and pictures of white doves flying across the back screens. A quick thank you to the dancers and the backing band, and the group sank into the stage.
There was then a long wait — the crowd were not very noisy and there was applause but not in a sustained way. Eventually the lights came up and focused on a stage in the midst of the crowd — one of the group began to sing and was then joined by the other three who ran through the audience (in a carefully managed way — I found myself reflecting that it was another sign of both performers and audience getting older — in Boyzone’s early days, I doubt they could have pulled that one off without getting mobbed!). Three encores including a strong rendition of ‘Sorry’ and finally ‘Life is a Rollercoaster’, and a final thank you to the crowd for welcoming them back and ‘making us feel that there is a future’.
Set List:
Too Late for Hallelujah
Hurricane
Picture of You
All that I Need
Ruby
Going Gets Tough
Gave It All Away
Better
One More Song
Till the Sun Goes Down
Love Me for a Reason
No Matter What
You Needed Me
Love You Anyway
Loving Each Day
Let Your Wall Fall Down
Encores:
????
Sorry
Life Is a Rollercoaster
Review – Betty Hagglund
Photos – Ken Harrison
Great pictures, Ken!
Hey Betty, are you a professional reviewer or just a concert goer giving your opinion? Either way you shouldn’t make assumptions of what the rest of an audience is feeling when writing a review. Putting your view across about an act is fair enough, but to decide what the rest of the audience thought is just plain arrogance. I am assuming you are not a psychic. So I thought I would add some of the huge amount of tweets which came through about Guy Sebastian performing as a support for Boyzone during the tour to add a more balanced view. You say the audience were not interested. Isn’t it strange then that so many twitters came through about Guy during these concerts. Usually people don’t bother tweeting about a support act unless they attract their attention, either by being very bad or very good. In Guy’s case I only saw two bad tweets, and hundreds of good ones. He certainly won the twitter reviewers over. Perhaps the two bad tweets were from you and your companion. lol
First up what Ronan himself thinks. Like so many other respected musicians around the world he thinks Guy is pretty special.
“Lookin forward to see my mate Guy Sebastian live tonight. He is Supporting BZ for next 6 shows. Great Musician. X”
“Amazing Gig in birmingham tonight. Brilliant crowd. Guy Sebastian was brilliant hope ya enjoyed. X”
And then one from that very competent guitarist you mentioned.
“JIMMY_DOCHERTY: Just got off 5 gigs last week with @GuySebastian on Boyzone UK arena tour inc Manc MEN.. What a man!”
Now for the concert goers themselves. I have removed their twitter names, but if you search Guy Sebastian, @GuySebastian or @ronanofficial you will see they are real comments by real people.
“Guy sebastian amazing but get ur asses out here @ronanofficial”
“@ronanofficial @guysebastian was amazing tonight. Hes a great talent and has an fantastic voice”
“@GuySebastian Bring yourself is an AWESOME song! Loved it!! X”
“Did i mention that @GuySebastian was brill?? Think we scared him to death when we shouted him!! haha”
“@ronanofficial @guysebastian was great tonight please will ya keep him for the rest of the tour??”
“@GuySebastian u totali rocked tonite guy, well done xxxx”
“@GuySebastian Hi Guy,, WOW you were fab tonight at Birmingham.. and thank for the wave!! Give me a follow so I can keep up with what ur doin”
“is bk from b’ham The boyz were absolutely fantastic again and i have fallen in love with @GuySebastian !!”
“@ronanofficial this tour just gets better every time I see it. Well done lads-we love ya! And yes-guy was brill!!! See you in castlebar”
“@GuySebastian @ronanofficial haha! Guy you need a solo show here!”
“@ronanofficial Absolutely loving Guy! Thanks so much for bringing him to us, he is amazing. Xx”
“@ronanofficial guy was absolutely awesome as were you mega night Ro stunning opening brilliant”
“@ronanofficial You guys were brilliant tonight and so was Guy. Can’t wait til tomorrow in Notts and 3rd row tickets! Have u got a cold? X”
“@ronanofficial @officialkeith @mrmikeygraham fab show tonight! Thought Guy was great too.”
“Happy Birthday @ronanofficial, great gig in Birmingham last night, loved it as always. @guysebastian was fab, love his voice. :0) x”
“First time hearing @GuySebastian last night..amazing voice!!”
“@GuySebastian you were fab last night at Boyzone!!!!! Hope you do well in the UK!”
“@GuySebastian saw you at the boyzone concert in birmingham last night. how cool are you!!!”
“@GuySebastian loved u songs in Nottingham tonight u were fab x”
“@GuySebastian you were amazing last night, love your music already! a pleasure to watch!good luck for rest of the tour!”
“@ronanofficial you Boyz are only giving @GuySebastian 20mins?!! I want him for longer on Saturday!!!”
“@guysebastian having just screamed my love @ you on stage can I have a follow please!”
“BIG love for Guy Sebastian!!”
“Saw Boyzone x last night at LG Arena in Brum, Wonderland supported, they good but Aussie Guy Sebastion was superb, BRILLIANT”
“Cant get @GuySebastian Who’s that girl outta me head all day. Lovin that tune.”
“Its very catchy isn’t it…. after hearing it last night i could stop singing it!!”
“@GuySebastian seen you in birmingham your music is really good, slightly obessed with your songs now:) different music, well done x x x”
“@GuySebastian you have an amazing voice. heard you singing at the lg arena in birmingham. swoon”
“guy sebastian was awesome too he’s a bit like bruno mars”
“Aaaahhhh still can hardly believe how amazing @GuySebastian is live! Oz is so blessed to have him! #boyzonetour”
“Startin to wonder if I’m the biggest UK fan of @GuySebastian and @SMDofficial is fast becoming 2nd! Keep squealin at tonites pics!”
“On way to work from notts guna be blasting out @GuySebastian 2010 on the way! Aaaahh bring on sunday wen see him again!”
“cause Guy Sebastian who won Aus Idol a few years back and is friends with Ronan is the support act . His AMAZING”
“Soooooooo need a swap at work tomorow so I can go see @GuySebastian in manc! #boyzonetour brighton is to long to wait!”
“@GuySebastian Great set last night at BZ gig – loved it!”
“@GuySebastian Saw you in Birmingham with my friend, was hard to see as was in Disabled seating … but you sounded amazing! Loved it xxxx”
“@ronanofficial @MarkDPlunkett can we steal @GuySebastian and keep him for the rest of the tour??”
“Boyzonetour: Who else loves @GuySebastian ? He is one incredibly talented man! I can’t stop tweetin about him lol!”
“@Boyzonetour he is great @GuySebastian but I wish he did Wembley and Dublin and Castlebar, miss him.”
“@Boyzonetour @guysebastian can’t wait to see him perform tomorrow at #boyzonetour in Manchester xx”
“@GuySebastian Hey, i saw you last night at nottingham you have an amazing voice !!! xx ”
“@ronanofficial you were right Guy Sebastian is amazing! Just finished ordering his Twenty Ten album.”
“@boyzonetour think guy Sebastian is fab!wish I was going again!”
“Have just ordered x5 @guysebastian albums and that is just from seeing one 20 minute set in Nottingham yesterday!!”
“@GuySebastian yo man, im a massive Boyzone fan and saw u in Notts Thurs nite, just like to say i think ur voice is amazing dude, xx”
“saw guy live on wednesday at boyzone and he was amazing, i am now hooked big style”
“Hey you were amazing at Nottingham with Boyzone last night, such a powerful voice!!! Shall definitely be getting some of your albums!!”
“@GuySebastian thanx 4 amazin nite at notts on thurs”
“@GuySebastian After seeing you in Nottingham on Tues – just can’t get Who’s that Girl out of my head – love it! x”
“#boyzonetour just watching @GuySebastian perform- he is fantastic 🙂 xx”
“think @guysebastian was amazing haha i like it like that xx”
“@ronanofficial 2nd row at the boyzone concert! Guy Sebastian is fab!”
“Is Lovin Guy Sebastian!!!!! At MEN arena”
“@GuySebastian You’ve been amazing on the Boyzone tour – guess you’ve gained a few extra fans xx”
“@GuySebastian hey great show tonight see you in Brighton.. Still singing your song… “who’s that girl da da da ah ah” ha ha!Safe journey x”
“@GuySebastian You just killed it at Manchester!!!!! Everyone needs to hear your music! So inspired x”
“Aaaahhhh still can hardly believe how amazing @GuySebastian is live! Oz is so blessed to have him! #boyzonetour”
“@GuySebastian Fantastic performance in Nottingham Guy . The first time I’d heard any of your material and I’d definitely like to hear some more!”
“Guy Sebastian on stage in manchester ….. loving the outfit and he was fab!!!!]”
“@ronanofficial thanks again guys for putting on another amazing show great to see guy sebastian wow an amazing talent x”
“@GuySebastian just wanted to say how fantastic you was last night in Manchester- must check out more of your songs xxx”
“@GuySebastian u were brilliant in Manchester. I’ve been on iTunes already xxx”
“@GuySebastian you were so good last night! You have a brilliant voice! Well done”
“@GuySebastian you were amazing at Boyzone last night!”
“looooved the gig last night … guy was amazing!!!!”
“@GuySebastian you were amazing tonight wow I could listen to your voice for hours. BRIGHTON LOVES YOU ♥”
There were tons more tweets. This is just a small sample. Every show had tweets pouring in about Guy. Causing one person to tweet –
“Everyone’s tweetin about @GuySebastian in Uk..It’s so unfair i couldn’t go”
As I said, people don’t usually bother to tweet about a support act unless they stand out for some reason, either in a good way or a bad way. And twitterers can be very harsh as they feel they have a right to bag anyone. Nobody bagged Guy except those two twitterers I mentioned and you. So if this comment is actually accepted (and I am pretty sure it won’t be) this page will have a much more balanced view, with the audience actually being allowed to voice THEIR opinion, not YOUR impression of their opinion.
Wow! That’s the longest comment I’ve ever seen. I’m sure plenty of people like him and this was just the reviewer’s perspective. You kinda lost me when you described Ronan Keating as a “respected musician” though.
Steve, you crack me up, lol.
No Steve, it wasn’t just the reviewer giving her perspective. I said it was fair enough that she said what she thought about his performance. But she took it on herself to report on what the rest of the audience felt and misrepresented them. That is just deceit to try to validate her opinion of him. It is quite obvious from the tweets that poured in and are still pouring in days later that she was not telling it how it really was. As for Ronan, well he must be respected by someone. Has had a hell of a lot of hits. And judging by the glowing review Betty gave she certainly has respect for him and his band. Perhaps American soul legend Steve Cropper who has been inducted into four American Hall Of Fames might be more of your idea of what a respected musician would be. This is what he said about Guy Sebastian.
“Needless to say I’ve done a lot of things in my career, had a lot of fun, but we had more fun working with this young guy who just sings the rings around everything. This kid came into Memphis, and just blew everybody’s socks off. He had the grit and the grime and the soul of Otis Redding, and he had the sweet soul of Al Green, he had the wonderful sweet church sound of Sam Cooke, and he just took us by storm.”
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/61522976
So many other words I could add from other respected musicians, but I know your attention span is far too short to cope with long posts so I will leave it at that.