CityLife

I'm not sure which concert the first reviewer went to, it certainly doesn't sound like the one I went to on Sunday night.

Will Young's performance was superb.  He has an excellent voice which was particularly highlighted when he sang with just a piano for accompaniment.  He engaged the crowd very well, like they were all frends, without being patronising, which I find many performers to be.

I thought the set itself (lighting effects etc) was just right, and it worked really well.

As for the crowd, well around me it was very diverse.  A very healthy mixture of older and younger men, women, boys and girls.  Everyone of them seemed to thoroughly enjoy it (as did my wife and I).

A superb night out, and I can't wait for Will Young to return.

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I went to see Will on the Sunday night and I thought he was truly flawless, He interacted with the crowd, who may I say from where I was standing there were men, kids, teenage girls, women, and pensioners! I have never seen such a diverse crowd so I dont understand where that critic was coming from! anyway, he was stripped back to just him his wonderful voice and the band, which is all that was needed for such an intimate gig, his soulful voice took control of the theatre and with out a note out of place he showed his talent at its best! who needs razzle dazzle when you have a raw talent like that!! well worth £32.50

x Fay x

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Well, it takes all sorts to make a reviewer, and this is one that is completely out of touch with what it was like at  the amazing Concert at Manchester. The audience was very diverse, the crowd gave Will a standing ovation, no other singer cuts it live like him.  This reviewer obviously went with his own agenda, also it is only one point of view which of course he is entitled to, as for the audience, they made it evident that they do not agree with this particular point of view.   

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SINCE standing up to a sceptical Simon Cowell on Pop Idol back in 2001, Will Young has always taken criticism on the chin, defying the talent show odds by maintaining a career of some longevity.

Interestingly, his fanbase has completely switched from pop kids to women “of a certain age”; from G-A-Y to WI.

“He’s so lovely!,” coos one ecstatic Mrs Doyle after another, taking it turns to hand him gifts.

Someone has fashioned a replica of his unthreatening face out of cardboard, while another throws a toy leprechaun at him.

You wonder how Will must feel looking out into the crowd, knowing that at only 29, he’s turned into Cliff Richard without the early, Elvis-aping period.

But then his first album in three years, Let It Go, doesn’t dissuade this image, stuffed with music so inoffensive, it begs your pardon for entering your ears.

It’s a shame because 2005’s From Now On contained moments such as Switch It On, which suggested he was willing to chance his arm creatively.

All-dancing

The attendant tour for that was an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza, replete with dancers, costume changes and ingenious stagecraft.

Here, we have just Will and his band chugging through his tidy blue-eyed soul. For £32.50 a ticket, you’d have thought they could have least sprung for a glitter canon.

Gospel-pop

At best – as on the orchestral gospel-pop of Your Game and a stripped-back and slowed-down version of the Jay Kay-esque Friday’s Child – Will is given the material to complement his powerful, always engaging vocals.

But these pleasures are buried under the rubble of the likes of Let It Go which aims for George Michael but alights on Simply Red, the rousing, navel-gazing Grace which is pleasant yet ultimately dull, and worse of all, the funk-pop of Love and Are You Happy, which is mired in Eighties Essex wine bar hell.

With his frequent one-liners, or ad hoc songs about the merchandise stall, the impression you’re left with is that Will’s music simply isn’t as interesting as the man himself.

Ending with the money shot of Leave Right Now, you can only wonder if his mooted collaboration with Groove Amada might show us what he’s capable of.

What did you think of Will's show? Have your say.

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