Olly Murs live in Manchester
- By Liam Buckley -
- Feb 23, 2012
Since being crowned X Factor runner up in 2009, Olly Murs has successfully shaped himself into one of the UK’s biggest pop stars. He‘s bagged himself four number-ones, released two platinum albums and managed to sell out his first ever arena tour.
This level of success in such a short space of time left me convinced that the Essex-born crooner would be delivering something rather special. Once the lights dimmed and the brass band fired up, Olly’s diminutive figure erupted onto the stage kicking off with the leading line from ‘Anywhere Else’.
From then onwards he owned the stage, bouncing around in his three-piece suit to ‘Change Is Gonna Come’, throwing ‘We Will Rock You’ into the mix to shake things up a bit. He continued to highlight his egotistical persona during ‘Thinking Of Me’ then bowled into Aloe Blacc’s classic, ‘I Need A Dollar’.
After a quick costume change, the quintessentially British star reappeared from the back of the room sporting his trademark trilby and chinos. As the uplifting beat of ‘Busy’ kicked in, Olly shuffled towards the stage through an ocean of ecstatic fans. Back on his platform he toned it down with ‘I Don’t Love You Too’ and gave another two great offerings from his latest album with ‘Just Smile’ and the incredibly catchy title track ‘In Case You Didn’t Know’.
From there the giant screens circulated images of adoring fans whilst he executed another well-crafted cover of ‘It Must Be Love’ before rupturing into James Brown-esque performance. Olly reminded us what he does best making his way across the audience on the suspended glass-bottom walkway to the infectious Muppets-style track, ‘Dance With Me Tonight’.
Olly also turned his hand to a string of ballads including the self-penned classic, ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ and latest single to be released from his album, ‘Oh My Goodness’. Then, in a bid to testify the screams of a predominantly female crowd, he announced his love for the women in Manchester. And if that wasn’t enough to strike hysteria into thousands of screaming fans, he revealed that his search for Mrs Murs was still underway.
Towards the end he dropped the radio-friendly ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go’, before closing the show with the epic number one hit single ‘My Heart Skips A Beat’.
Olly’s performance provided proof that he was the real winner of the X Factor. With his quirky voice, enviable dance moves and charming personality I can guarantee this cheeky-chap will be on the scene for many years to come.
By Liam Buckley. Tweets at @LTBuckley
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