Can it really be 20 years since Will Young won the inaugural series of Pop Idol? It’s quite the cliché but it’s amazing how time flies and now Young is to be found celebrating this anniversary on his current 20 Years Tour.
Will Young on tour
Over the intervening years Young has acted on stage, screen and television. Initially I was never a fan of Young having found him quite uninspiring and formulaic in a vaguely similar mould to others emerging from the Simon Cowell powered talent shows of the early 2000s. After seeing him on stage in Cabaret and in concert my views have become far more favourable towards this accomplished all-rounder.
Arriving on stage at the City Hall in Sheffield, Young looked debonair dressed totally in white – though the lady sat next to me shared that she thought his outfit made him look more like a circus ringmaster than a singer! As the opening chords of Evergreen rang out one thing became clear – the expertly balanced sound. Whoever was the sound engineer is deserving of credit as the music rang out across the auditorium perfectly, so crystal clear from the singer and his band.
New renditions of old classics and an audience Q&A
His version of The Doors classic Light My Fire was given a delicate makeover whilst his cover of the Bat for Lashes’ Daniel was sympathetically covered making you think that the song had been written especially for Young.
All Time Love was accompanied by what sounded like the Sheffield choir as the audience took over the singing of the track which even made Young looked surprised at the reaction the song received. His emotive vocal on You and I was another highlight in this highly entertaining concert.
Making an impromptu stop for a Q&A session might not have been the best decision of the night. Things began fine (when is your next album coming out?) but quickly disintegrated into a farce (what type of underpants do you wear?) with Young quickly bringing the session to an abrupt halt to sing Switch It On.
After nearly 90 minutes on stage, the show came to a close with Leave Right Now – his fourth Number One and after that he was gone – no encore as on some of the previous dates on the tour. Whether he had been taken aback by some of the inappropriate questions earlier on who knows? A consummate performance nevertheless from a seasoned and accomplished artist.
Newcomer Kris James opened up the concert earlier. The accomplished singer had some fine tracks such as Get Back To Love and Naïve – the latter sounding like a Peter Andre song. The Liverpudlian singer would be an ideal candidate to represent the UK in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, having a great voice and also coming from the host city are all points in his favour.
