Concert Review: NASHVILLE MEETS LONDON (Day 1), Canary Wharf, London

Photo credit: In Your Area

*Scroll down for a photo gallery of the event!*

Everything is better when it’s free, and I’d say that this sentiment extends nicely to music festivals too. You mean to tell me that instead of paying what can be extortionate amounts of money to see a whole bunch of artists, I can do it for free? Count me in. Just one of the reasons why I’m a big advocate of Nashville Meets London, which this year saw its third annual edition in Canary Wharf’s Canada Square Park.

And what a day to kick off the festival. The weather was scorching, and the crowds were out in their hordes even as the festival began at 2pm. Jade Helliwell was the artist chosen to kick off the festival, entering the stage dressed in a shimmery mermaid jumpsuit. She kicked off the party with some upbeat tunes including Boom Tick and By My Side, and it was clear from the way she worked the stage that this is a woman who is truly at home when performing.

It was on the ballads where she truly shone with her strong vocals and classic ever-so-slight American lilt that UK country singers tend to develop. Indeed, whilst being the first artist to hit the stage, I knew her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah would be a highlight of the whole weekend for me.

There were half hour breaks between each set, which whilst relatively long, wasn’t really a problem as it gave attendees the chance to mill around and find something to eat or drink in the many surrounding shops and bars, as well as giving yours truly a chance to get some interviews in (watch this space!) Festival goers were spread out on the grass in front of the large stage, with a screen to the side for those of us sitting further back. My only qualm about the setup was that the speakers themselves were relatively small, and with the windy weather, vocals all too easily got carried away on the breeze.

Next to join the party were The Adelaides, comprised of Paris Georgia, Alicia Alba and Abi Phillips, who I was astounded to find out had only been together for a year given their well polished performance. They left no doubt that they were country between their songs including Jack Daniels (“is my only friend”) and fantastic style that I wish we could wear on a day to day basis here.

They proved without a doubt that three voices can be better than one with beautiful harmonies as highlighted on a lovely cover of Jolene (I take my hat off to anyone who dares compete with Dolly!) and their catchy end song, potentially called Pull The Trigger. With sounds not carrying across the park, lyrics and song names weren’t the easiest to pick up on!

I was excited to see the next band perform, given that the last time I had seen them must have been around 2014 when I stumbled across them busking on Grafton Street in Dublin. However, good music is worth remembering, and reading the name Keywest on this years lineup, I was brought back to stopping to enjoy their performance then, and sure I would again at the festival .

Keywest were perhaps more rock/pop than country which I had no problem with given that this festival was a great opportunity to show Brits the range that country encompasses, be that more traditional styles to the crossover with pop that we know and love today. They were high energy and loud as they rocked together on tracks like Something Beautiful and a cover of The Cranberries Linger, coming together at one point to all bang the drums in unison. Definitely a change from some of the other acts.

The next act was a great pick in my opinion, and one of the only ones that I had actually seen perform live before, given Frankie Davies was the opening act for Maddie and Tae last year (you can read a review of that gig here) and has opened for plenty other big name US acts too. There’s a reason for this, and that’s because she’s great.

I remembered admiring her pure voice and we were treated to this again, as well as her talent on guitar, as she performed songs like The Sweetest Sound and Wherever I Go. I also really appreciated her interaction with the crowd, greeting them gratefully within minutes of coming onstage and explaining stories behind the song she wrote for her dad (Superman), and the song she wrote for her mum who was jealous her dad got a song first (Dancing All Night). The covers performed by acts throughout the festival were of a very high standard, and Frankie’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain was no exception. Certainly one to watch.

If you’d have heard of anyone at the festival, bets would be on that being Sam Palladio, known for his role as Gunnar on the hit TV show Nashville. Now that the show has ended, Sam has started to make steps out on his own, beginning with festivals like this. He kicked off with the very vibey Hello Heartbreak Blues which was reminiscent of an early John Mayer.

There was plenty of Nashville to go around, including Can’t Get It Right, Gun For A Mouth, I Will Never Let You Know, I Will Fall and of course the classic Fade Into You, just in case you forgot where he came from. Splattered in between these was the occasional self-penned track like Faster Than A Bullet, songs which felt reasonably different to those he’d been singing for the show. I’d be interested to know whether Sam will be able to step out from behind Gunnar’s shadow and make a name for himself. Here’s hoping.

The final act of the night was young gun Dylan Schneider, playing his first show in the UK. He certainly had a lot of energy and warned the crowd that he would be talking a lot during his set, a promise which he kept, occasionally shouting at the crowd in glee things like “this is amazing, you’re blowing it off the road, baby!”

He was the epitome of bro-country, citing his biggest influence as Florida Georgia Line and putting his take on Cruise. Whilst not everyone’s cup of tea, his high energy ‘Friday night party’ tracks like You Heard Wrong and How Does It Sound were a sound way to take the festival up a year and leave attendees on a high. Day 1 done!

I hope you enjoyed today's review of Nashville Meets London! Come back soon for my Day 2 review and roundup, and make sure to stay tuned to the blog and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for plenty more music reviews, as well as interviews with many of the artists in this article. Thanks for reading!

Gallery

Review: THE MUPPETS TAKE THE O2, The O2, London

Something a little different than my usual concert reviews, but this certainly counts as some sort of music event, so I thought I’d review it nonetheless! Like a few other events I’ve attended recently, this was another that fell into my hands last minute, but I’d be lying if I hadn’t been umming and ahhing about going for months. The Muppets are without a doubt one of the most iconic of pop culture icons and if you can’t say you’re an avid fan of Kermit et al, I’m afraid we can’t be friends.

I’d opted for the matinee performance, so arrived at an O2 full of a younger crowd than that of the shows I was used to going to. The kids were getting a bit edgy as the show had a delayed start, but soon quietened as the lights went down and the first of the Muppets came on stage.

Immediately, I was enthralled by how it was done. There was no hiding that the Muppets were in fact puppets (rumour has it crossed with mops – that’s how they got their names) as the puppeteers, sometimes two per Muppet, rolled across the stage on small sliding platforms, dressed in black so they’d be less noticeable, but very obviously there. I thought this was great. Unlike on TV or in the movies, we actually got to see the fantastic actors who made the magic come alive. Interestingly, the screens were very obvious in their cutting out of these actors, so from further away than I was, you only would have been able to see the torsos of the puppets, much like on TV.

The performance was an interesting mix of characters chatting on stage about putting on ‘Muppets Take The O2’, super short skits, and some recognisable songs. Even for those of us who hadn’t seen the Muppets in decades, the characters are so cross-generational that it made perfect sense for a 50 year old to be enjoying it just as much as a 5 year old.

The show started the way it should – with the opening theme sung by all the Muppets in their little cubby holes. Hearing them burst out with “It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights” brought a nostalgic tear to my eye. In the first few skits, we were re-introduced to beloved characters like Miss Piggy, appalled the entire show was not solely about her; Kermit and Fozzie taking a road trip together; and Rowlf the Dog singing his way through the Tube map. This certainly was a ‘Made for the UK’ show.

It was where we had a bit more meat (no pun intended) that the show became more enjoyable. Take Pigs In Space, where Miss Piggy and pals, plus special guest Peter Davison aka the Fifth Doctor, played with a regeneration machine turning one of the pigs into various iterations of Doctor Who. The guests were well used but I felt the Saturday showings had slimmer pickings – more on that later.

Kermit came back on stage for a quick dance to Happy Feet, and then we had the slightly bizarre occurrence of actor Anthony Head reading Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud for a few moments – what? Turns out this was all to be interrupted by Pepe the King Prawn, who is undoubtedly one of the Muppets most enjoyable characters.

I very much enjoyed the Croakapella segment, mainly because Kermit’s nephew Robin is an incredibly cute puppet, as I was with Muppstream which played Netflix style trailers on the screens above the stage, including The Walking Bread with the Swedish Chef, and Frogglebox. We finished Act I with a few songs from Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem including Can You Picture That? (which I have since discovered is a Muppets original) and The Lumineers Ho Hey.

Act II got off to a good start with a cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody feat various chickens and Animal frantically searching for his Mama. This was followed by the fun but quite out of place Boo Danube – yes, boo, as in ghosts. In fact, there wasn’t really much coherence to the show itself, with skit after skit and very little of a storyline going between them. I reckon it would have been a more enjoyable show had that been the case.

You can’t really go wrong with Muppet Labs, and Dr Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker introduced us to the Cloud, and what a scary place it really can be. The screens then showed Fozzie Bear running around backstage in an attempt to make it on time to break the Guinness World Record for most jokes told in two minutes (spoiler alert: he didn’t) made all the better by four kazoo-ing penguins helping to build the suspense; followed by an aptly timed football joke given England’s sad loss in the World Cup Semi-Finals a few days earlier.

Another highlight was the next scene with the Swedish Chef and guest star comedian Adam Hills who gave us a tutorial on how to make haggis with various IKEA-sounding ingredients and physically shoving oats down a sheeps mouth given it all has to end up in the stomach. Quite amusing, with Adam himself almost cracking up a few times.

Gonzo made a brief appearance on stage to do some magic, but it was the next section that I think most of us had been waiting for – Mahna Mahna. The characters scanned the crowd to see if the song could be made better with any pop stars waiting in the audience, and lo and behold, Steps were on hand to do just that. Frankly talent I think that was a bit wasted considering all they had to do was scream ‘MAHNA MAHNA’ into a microphone. Nevertheless, last nights guest to fill this spot was Kylie Minogue, which I think would have dramatically increased the star power.

Finally, the show came to an end with Miss Piggy’s rendition of Adele’s Hello, which involved her being flung from side to side by enthusiastic backup dancers; and the whole crew coming back together to help a certain frog with a banjo sing Rainbow Connection. What a cute way to end. Was The Muppets Take The O2 a perfect show? Absolutely not – the scenes were somewhat disjointed and set changes not seamless leading to awkward moments behind skits. It certainly could have been a lot smoother. Would I go again? Probably not – I think you’d get a better experience from watching them off YouTube, and at least the disjointed nature would make more sense as you move from video to video. Nonetheless, one has to try these things to see if they’re good, and I can for sure tell you I would have had a bad case of FOMO had I not gone!

I hope you enjoyed today's review! Make sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for plenty more music reviews as well as the occasional random event like this, and drop me a comment below with your favourite Muppet - mine's Robin! 

Top Albums of 2018 (So Far!): Part 2

Time flies when you’re listening to good music, and here we are again for the second instalment of my Top Albums of 2018! As someone who listens to music a lot (as you may have gathered from this blog) I find I often fall into a sense of ennui when sticking my iPhone onto shuffle, so a new batch of music is always more than welcome to spice things up, and the last three months have certainly helped – read on for my picks the best albums so far!

Charlie Puth – Voicenotes

Why it made the list: I like artists about whom you can say ‘yeah, that sounds unique,’ and that’s certainly the case with Charlie Puth. I don’t know of another male artist in my living memory who has quite used their range in the same way he has. Upon first listen to Voicenotes, I had the urge to dance to almost every song. It’s certain that this is feel good music, even when it deals with sticky issues like one night stands in How Long, or dating what sounds like a considerably older woman in BOY. Admittedly there are a few songs on here that after a few listens, I’m more than happy to skip (Change and Through It All being the notable examples), but the remainder provide hit after hit that I’ll be dancing to all the way home. The only downside? Charlie’s not yet announced UK dates for his Voicenotes tour!

Top Tracks: BOY, Empty Cups, Done For Me 

Keith Urban – Graffiti U

Why it made the list: When you think country music (if indeed, you do), you probably think of those who have maintained a legacy within the genre for decades – Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw – and no doubt Keith Urban fits this bill too. Now on his umpteenth album, Graffiti U is certainly a change from the country heavy albums of his past as we veer more and more into pop territory, only differentiated by Keith’s distinctive country twang. Urban is a man made for arena shows, and this shows on the album full of party-starters (Never Comin Down), singalongs (Coming Home), and anthem ballads (Parallel Line, Female).  This album leaves something to be desired from his previous releases for me, but no doubt this crossover record has opened him up to yet more potential fans discovering what modern country is all about

Top Tracks: Drop Top, Parallel Line, Same Heart  

Sugarland – Bigger

Why it made the list: Haven’t we been waiting long enough for a new Sugarland music? Well, our wish has been granted with Bigger, and as suggested in their debut single from this album, Sugarland are here to prove they’re Still The Same. Throughout the album, and as is often the case with Sugarland work, the duo tackle deep issues with their music, this time including the #MeToo movement with notes of female empowerment woven across a number of the songs, and school shooting and suicide on Tuesday’s Rain. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Sugarland album without a bunch of fun songs too (Stuck Like Glue remaining as one of my favourites of theirs) and tracks like Lean It On Back help them keep this identity. Interestingly, the duo who normally pen their own songs, called on the help of superstar Taylor Swift and Train frontman Pat Monahan for their song about moving on from a cheater, Babe (sorry to any fans who thought it was in fact about a talking pig). Some may argue that the use of a ‘Bigger’ (pun intended) name may have just been a push for more commercial success, but it’s a good song nonetheless, and pleasant return from the duo.  

Top Tracks: Let Me Remind You, Babe, Love Me Like I’m Leaving

Dierks Bentley – The Mountain

Why it made the list: With the news that Dierks Bentley is hosting the inaugural Seven Peaks music festival held in the mountains later this summer, it should really come as no surprise that his new album is entitled The Mountain. With his gritty voice, he does sound a bit like a mountain man too, which only makes it even better! And what an album – every song has the ability to evoke all kinds of different emotions. Goodbye in Telluride makes me want to take a road trip, Woman, Amen wants me to sing at the top of my lungs, My Religion brings tears to my eyes, and the rockabilly Travelin’ Light makes me want to start two-steppin’ (not that I know how to do that). This is an album that is a love song to Arizona, Colorado and being on the road, so for a wanderlustful traveller like me, I couldn’t have asked for a better record.

Top Tracks: Woman Amen, Burning Man, Goodbye in Telluride

I hope you enjoyed my round-up of the top albums of 2018 so far! Do you agree with my list, or are their other albums you think should have been included? Let me know either in the comments below or on Twitter @CiarasCountry as I’m always keen to check out new music! Stay tuned for further additions to this series, and make sure you have a look at my suggestions from previous years, uploaded every three months to this blog. More content coming soon!

TRAVEL: Oslo, Norway - fjords, figures and fancy food

On my quest for the cheapest Bank Holiday trip imaginable, I found myself back on a flight comparison site looking for ‘London to anywhere’ flights. The top hit? Oslo. Sure, why not? I’d visited the country many, many years ago on a Scandinavian camping trip, but was more than happy to go somewhere I couldn’t remember. Flight booked, Airbnb booked, I started doing my research on the city. Every website started with something along the lines of ‘A lovely city, but expensive’ or ‘A beautiful place to visit, if you can afford to do so.’ Ah.

The websites were right on both accounts, but even the cost wouldn’t have put me off what really was a lovely trip. At noon on a bright Saturday, I headed to Stansted airport, arriving around two hours later in Oslo. To get to the city, we had to take the train which cost a fairly hefty £10, particularly in comparison to the £2 bus tickets I’d paid in Riga a few months ago (you can read about that trip here!) Nonetheless, it was a comfortable and quick train ride and we chose to go slightly further than the Central Station, to the National Theatre stop.

Stepping out of the station, we were greeted with blissful sunshine and a gorgeous square complete with two fountains. Ten seconds into our trip, and I already loved the city. We were stood next to a street, Karl Johans Gate, which looked fairly reminiscent of the Champs Elysee in Paris, and was so lovely I didn’t want to head straight to our Airbnb, but instead have my first wander around the city, even though I was sure we’d be returning to this part plenty of times before the trip was out. We took a quick stroll up to the Parliament building and what I had chosen as our end point, a huge clock with the ‘Freia’ on it, which we soon discovered to be a popular chocolate brand; and that the clock had been heralded in days past by FDR as the most impressive thing in Oslo.

Turning around, we headed straight to the Royal Palace, which sits in the midst of a lovely park with a few interesting sculptures in it, including a colourful rainbow, and a statue with a sock puppet. Pretty cool! We wandered our way up into Majorstuveien where our Airbnb was located, a small room in someone’s apartment. Given the other cheap Airbnb option I’d looked at, where we would have had to have stayed in the same room as our host, I thought this seemed pretty decent, given that we didn’t plan to be spending much time there anyway.

Dropping our bags off and changing into much needed summer gear with the weather being in the high 20s, it was time to head out and do some more exploring. Oslo has the benefit of being situated on a fjord, meaning it’s very easy to find your way down to the docks, and so we headed for the cool area of Akker Brygge, a waterfront strip full of seafood restaurants and overpriced (but no doubt delicious) ice cream. A wonderful place to stroll for a minute.

Knowing that food was likely to be expensive, but undeniably good, I had consulted my trusty TripAdvisor to pick out some restaurants in the ££-£££ range, and settled upon the best Scandinavian restaurant in this price range, called Smia Galleri. It was pretty far out of the city, but we were up for it, and trekked off into the suburbs. As we became more and more surrounded by residential areas, I started to get worried we were in the wrong place, until we stumbled upon the orange painted building, reminiscent of those I recalled in Mediterranean countries.

The restaurant was gorgeous, and right next to a metal workshop which I assume gave the restaurant its name. Whilst almost 9pm, it was still beautifully warm so we opted to sit outside, with a lovely server translating the entire menu for us as they had no English equivalent. I liked the fact the restaurant had both a set menu of the day, but you could also choose just one dish from the set menu a la carte if you wished, which is what we did. My travel companion chose the ‘meat of the day’, tender duck with a creamy mash and vegetables; whilst I went for the only vegetarian option on the menu, a Japanese pancake topped with kimchi. And boy, was it delicious. I 100% would recommend this restaurant.

 Whilst we sat, I commented that everyone around us seemed to be ‘living their best life’. A lady a few tables over sat curled on a chair with a book, basking in the evening sunshine; and up on the hill we could see from our location, a few groups enjoyed picnics or walked slowly around the park. The right way to spend a Saturday evening, I think. The benefit of being so far up North was that the sun was only just setting as we made our way back at 11:30pm, and I was certainly glad we’d made our trip during the summer rather than the cold and dark winter!

The next morning, we made our way down to the Central Station for my favourite activity of any trip – a free walking tour of the city. We were told to meet next to ‘Oslo’s tiger’ but the group of people already there indicated we were in the right place. Unfortunately, the English-speaking guide had been delayed by the trains, so we had about 20 minutes to wander around. Luckily, the tourist office was right next door, and so I headed in to grab a map, and read on the digital screens about a Sunday market in somewhere called Bla, which I inquired about.

We headed back to be greeted by our guide, Anne Marie, an eccentric personality who makes balloon animals in her spare time. She was quite the character, and made everything she said totally exciting. We were hooked. Our tour lasted almost two hours, and took us to a variety of places across the city: the Communist hammer smashing a swastika outside the Central Station; the utterly stunning Opera & Ballet House with its sloped walls enabling visitors to walk up the sides; Akershus Fortress; Oslo’s three city halls, the most recent of which has glorious wooden carvings depicting Norse folklore around it; and back to Parliament where we finished up. Definitely the best thing to do on our first morning in Oslo.

Our itinerary evolved around the discovery of a Sunday market, and so we took a walk up along the river, which runs from the Central Bus Station (how convenient) in search of the market. A lovely walk, with a surprisingly end – the market turned out to be tiny, with only about 10 stalls in a narrow street. Nonetheless, I ended up buying some vintage collector cards, so worth the trip! Add to this the fact that the market was just a minute away from Mathallen Food Hall, which held a bunch of delightful food stalls with cheese, pastries, meats, and ice cream with a queue stretching round the corner.

With this, it was back into the centre and to the Nobel Peace Centre, one of my top hits for the trip. We were super lucky, arriving just at 3pm when a guided tour was starting – I couldn’t have asked for better timing, as we were taken around the Peace Prize part of the museum, which this year was dedicated to I CAN, fighting for the disuse of atomic weapons. This photo exhibition was also accompanied by an interactive room where standing in front of panels would tell you about all of the previous winners.

Downstairs was just as interesting, with a photo exhibit on ‘Generation Wealth’, examining the cult of celebrity, sex work, ageing beautifully, and those who had wished for wealth and grandeur but been negatively impacted by the economic depression. A fantastic and informative way to pass the time.

Alas, our day was far from over, and we headed all the way back up the city and past our Airbnb to Vigeland Sculpture Park, another ‘must’ for me. This park houses 212 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland, and we had great fun seeing as many as we could (thank goodness most are located within three main sections) and making up titles for what we thought they could be called. The strange nature of the sculptures just made this more fun, with babies balancing on their heads, people flipping each other over their backs, and the most famous angry baby.

Then it was back all the way through the city and near to the Opera House for the second best ££-£££ restaurant, Mirabel. This sits on a peninsula accessible by a small pedestrian bridge behind the Opera House, which inconveniently happened to be closed during our attempted visit. How inconvenient… Given the lateness of the day and the tiredness of our feet, it was decided we’d just go someone nearby, opting for Mamma Pizza which I’d seen on TripAdvisor too, a decent pizza joint where the dishes were importantly served quickly!

All too soon, we’d reached the last day of our trip, and so we packed up the room, said goodbye to our hosts and headed down to the waterfront where we’d booked a fjord tour. We boarded the Helena, an ancient looking vessel, and spent the next two hours floating along the fjord past the ‘She Lies’ iceberg sculpture next to the Opera House, cute summer homes on the islands, and occasionally being told interesting facts about what we were seeing. I approve.

Docked up at 12:30, we headed back to the Opera House where we’d booked a tour, again thanks to the helpful digital screens in the tourist office which notified us that such a thing existed. It was so worth it. We spent an hour being told about how the Opera House had been designed to be open to the public, which explained its sloped sides; the decision to leave the inner atrium bare of art because ‘the art was behind the auditorium doors’; the wood and chairs in the main theatre chosen to amplify music but less so vocals (but still being treated to a glorious song by one of the members of our group whilst in the theatre so we could hear the stunning acoustics); and even getting to go backstage to the huge workshops where set pieces sit and are being created. This was an absolute highlight of the trip for me.

Of course, we had to check out what all the hype was about with regards to walking up the Opera House, an idea I think is so fantastic. What better place to chill than the top of this gorgeous building, and for free, whenever you like, nonetheless? We cracked open a pack of aptly named Ballerina biscuits and revelled in the moment. What a joy it was to be there right then.

Always wanting to do as much as I can on any trip, I next suggested we head for Ekeberg Sculpture Park, on a hill a bit beyond the Opera House, in spite of my feet clearly stating that this was not what they wanted to do. Unfortunately, with all the redevelopment going on at the Harbourside, it was difficult to figure out where to go and a few wrong turns meant it took us longer than we’d hoped. Nevertheless, we made it there eventually, and it was at this point that I remembered it was a hill. My feet were not happy.

Eventually, I dragged myself up, and enjoyed the albeit strange sculptures held in this off-the-beaten-path park. However, it was truly worth it when we found a sculpture by none other than Salvador Dali of Venus de Milo filled with drawers; and the fact that this was supposedly the park in which Edward Munch was walking when he was inspired to paint The Scream. I certainly was inspired to go and rest my feet.

Our journey ended back at the Central Station with an overpriced but yummy grilled cheese sandwich, something I was glad to have stocked up on when we discovered our flight was delayed until midnight that night. What a weekend, what a trip, what a city. If you’re thinking of a sunny city break over the holidays, consider Oslo!

My tips for visiting Oslo: It goes without saying, but be mindful that it is an expensive city. Luckily, they have a currency which isn’t as easy to understand as pounds or euro, so I like to think I was ignorant of what I was spending. Nevertheless, it’s worth shelling out a bit more for fantastic meals like we had, so I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Find out what’s happening whilst your there with a quick trip to the Tourist Office or a chat to the locals – we never would have found out about the cute market or Opera House tour if we hadn’t done so. Finally, tours are great. I’m a true convert having got an inside look of the Opera House, and know that if the opportunity arises to do something similar on future trips, I’ll be sure to take it.

I hope you enjoyed today’s blog as much as I enjoyed visiting Oslo! I’m in the midst of planning my next trip, so be sure to stay tuned either on the blog or on Twitter @CiarasCountry for more travel blogs like this coming soon. If you have any recommendations for cities I should visit, please drop me a comment below as I’m always looking for new and exciting destinations!

Concert Review: DEMI LOVATO, The O2, London

Of course I was sad to find out that Demi Lovato had to reschedule her initially planned date at London’s O2 Arena due to sickness, but I know that this meant that on the postponed date, she would bring it 110%. This was to be the first time that I would see the singer perform, and her first London date for many years, having last played at KOKO, a venue I was surprised she had performed at as it’s often reserved for less well known artists.

However, the O2 was a worthy venue (although it did seem small in comparison to Wembley Stadium, where I’d seen Taylor Swift a few nights before – you can read that review here). We started on time with a very unassuming set with just a piano onstage for first act Joy. The soft spoken Australian singer played a set for us full of warbling music and high range including tracks from her new EP including Change and Hooked, as well as the song that had made her decide to write music in the first place, Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams.

The next set was equally as unassuming for Jax Jones, with a DJ deck and two inflatable bottles advertising some of his songs. Most of us knew Jax from his track with Demi, Instruction, but throughout his set, the House DJ mixed well known songs like One Kiss, As Long As I Got You, and You Don’t Know Me. I felt that the scene was perhaps more suited for Ibiza than the O2 as the arena briefly turned into some kind of club as everyone jumped up and down to the beat.

At 9pm, the lights dimmed and Demi appeared on the two screens either side of the stage alongside a voiceover talking about how ‘we are all searching for our story’. From the darkness, Demi rose from the ground to sing one of the ballads from her latest album, You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore. Whilst she was no doubt still recovering from her illness and chose not to hit all of the high notes in this song and some of the others, when she did it was truly magical.

As quickly as she’d arrived, she sunk back into the stage and we were treated to another video sequence, this time watching Demi as both therapist and patient, as they discussed her new love interest and how she was perhaps a little bit obsessed with him. This was the perfect introduction to my favourite track on her latest record, Daddy Issues.

At this point, she proudly proclaimed her bisexuality by following this up with Cool For The Summer (known for its super fun lyrics like “Don’t tell your mother, kiss one another, die for each other) in which she danced provocatively with some of the female dancers, telling the crowd at the end that it was okay to love who you love, and that everyone should in fact go tell their mothers about it.

The raunch continued with Sexy Dirty Love with plenty of chair dancing to keep the crowd entertained, and a dance heavy and super fun rendition of one of her older hits, Heart Attack. After this song, she properly greeted the crowd in what felt like an unscripted manner which you don’t often find at concerts like this which are so heavily rehearsed that nothing is off the cuff. She heartfeltly apologised for having to postpone previously, and declared her love for London and her wish to move here one day, which thrilled the crowd no end.

The next section was a highlight, as she performed Give Your Heart A Break complete with ‘Kiss Cam’ which scoured the arena for all kinds of couples – a really nice way to spread the love throughout the concert. As we watched the Kiss Cam, she disappeared briefly for a costume change, and the screens changed to a montage of her preparing for a boxing fight, after which she rose again in boxing attire for Confident, complete with a few boxing moves thrown in here and there.

There certainly was a lot of coming and going throughout the concert which I felt could have been smoother and less noticeable had there been a more simple ‘exit stage left/stage right’ strategy, but it did mean that she and set pieces could rise in a surprising manner, as was the case for next track Concentrate, where she rose from the floor on a large white bed clutching an electric guitar. Very much an apt song for that type of setting. 

Every couple of songs Demi would joke with the crowd and give us a hint that she's really quite down to Earth and doesn't take herself too seriously, as shown in her grin as backup dancers caressed her body in songs like Crybaby. It goes without saying that latest album Tell Me You Love Me is a bit more grownup than days of past! She joked again before Lonely that in spite of having been touring for almost a month by this point, she still had yet to find a European boyfriend or girlfriend, a comment which elicited plenty of cheers from willing candidates in the crowd. 

I found it easy to almost forget that she was playing live for us, as her vocals are on another level entirely - this girl has pipes and they are impressive to behold! Jax joined her onstage for the ever-catchy Instruction and the club vibe continued with the UK's current #1 single, her collaboration with Clean Bandit Solo. Pretty catchy stuff. She was joined virtually on stage by Luis Fonsi through pre-recorded video screens for Spanglish anthem Echame La Culpa with a few fiesty dance moves thrown in for good measure. 

She disappeared below the stage again and the screens lit up with a video montage of Demi's last decade. She certainly didn't hold back and images were flashed up relating to her eating disorders, addictions and stints in rehab. It's clear that for someone relatively young she's been through an awful lot and is not afraid to show it. One could have guessed that this would be followed by Warrior which she preceded, perched by the piano, with acknowledgement that she has had some rough times in life, and know that her fans have to, but that if they ever feel hurt, they can just put on her music because she will be there for them. A cliche sentiment, but one that does certainly ring through with music as a healer. 

The next song was undoubtedly her rawest yet, new song Sober. In it, she sang "Momma, I'm so sorry, I'm not sober anymore. Daddy please forgive me for the drinks spilled on the floor. To the ones that never left me, we've been down this road before. I'm so sorry, I'm not sober anymore." I felt this was a brave move to open up in such a way when many artists would gladly gloss over issues like this. With the line "I'm sorry for the fans I've lost who watched me fall again," a huge cheer went up to prove that whilst she may have lost some fans, we were all still there for her. 

Whilst we dried away our tears, the LED screens showed hate tweet after hate tweet directed at Demi, to which she arrived back on stage in a blaze of glory with Sorry Not Sorry to prove in a slightly different way to Warrior that such words don't affect her anymore. After a relatively short set of 1 hour 20 minutes, the show came to a close with tour title Tell Me You Love Me. She certainly doesn't need us to say it for her to know it. 

All in all, it was a simple enough show - no big pyrotechnics or snazzy choreography, and a bare set with the exception of a chair or bed here and there. If you've read some of my blogs before, you'll know I often forgive artists who lipsync provided they put on a good show, and I'd say I'll make the opposite forgiveness here for Demi - a fairly basic show but a spectacular voice. Would I have enjoyed it more had there been better staging? Yes. Did I enjoy it immensely nonetheless? Yes. 

I hope you enjoyed today's blog! I can't believe it's taken Demi so long to play the O2 in London, and I'm sure we'd love to have her back soon. Are you a fan of Demi? Let me know by dropping me a comment below or on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and make sure to give me a follow to be the first to know when a new review or interview goes live. Thanks for reading!

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Concert Review: TAYLOR SWIFT (Reputation Tour), Wembley Stadium, London

P.S Scroll down for a gallery of photos from the concert!

This truly was the tour of a lifetime. Three years after she’d last performed in the UK, and four since I’d seen her (no proper London dates on the 1989 Tour, grr!), I was going to see Taylor Swift perform at Wembley Stadium as part of the reputation Tour.

The trains being their usual reliable selves, I arrived 10 minutes before the show was due to start, but thankfully Wembley is a very efficient venue and it was simply a case of scanning my ticket through some intelligent turnstiles, pick up a lightup bracelet handed out to all attendees, and hurry to my seat. Easy.

If you’ve never been to Wembley before, let me be the first to tell you that it is massive. I picked the best seats I was comfortable paying for, but even being in level one, I was miles away from the stage and the performers appeared possibly even smaller than ants to me.

Right on time at 6:45pm, with the sun shining overhead, Charli XCX bounced on stage in a pink PVC raincoat contraption. I was really happy with the opening acts for the reputation tour – as Charli rightly said, “three badass women sharing the stage on one night.”

I found Charli’s choice of opening song interesting as she launched into perhaps her most famous song Boom Clap, made popular as part of the Fault In Our Stars movie soundtrack. However, in retrospect, a great way to get those who maybe didn’t know Charli herself involved, as you’d definitely know the song.

There’s a lot of space to use in such a large arena, so Charli used exaggerated movement throughout her set, running across the stage as she belted out songs like I Love It, Break The Rules and Unlock It. I was enjoying the show, but unfortunately felt that she wasn’t getting the reception she deserved as fans continued to mill around the stadium and chat.

She had a pretty decent duration for her set, with plenty of catchy songs like the gamified sounding Boys, new dance track 5 in the Morning and everyone’s favourite Fancy, which I found interesting given half of the track is sung by Iggy Azalea. Good set.

The reception for second opening act Camila Cabello was arguably warmer, although by this point the stadium had also filled up more. Her set began the same way as it did at her O2 Academy Brixton show (the review of which you can read here) with the large LED screen projecting a video of her eyes and the countdown before they opened and she came on stage to the initial chords of Never Be The Same.

Unfortunately for us at the back, the LED screens weren’t actually that big so even when they were projecting images of the ant-people on stage, it didn’t make them much easier to see. For this reason, I was glad to have seen Camila perform in a more intimate setting a few weeks ago!

Camila’s performance was full of slick choreography and stunning vocals on the likes of She Loves Control, Inside Out and personal favourite Bad Things. She slowed the set down with a touching performance of Consequences, showing that all that was needed to fill the arena was a piano and lilting vocals. She took this one step further with In The Dark in which the music was cut and it was only her voice which could be heard.

She was a great example for this edgier era of Taylor Swift with sultry lyrics like the clever start of Into It: “I’m not a psychic, but I see myself all over you.” I was sure there were many Taylor fans in the audience like me who had grown up with Taylor’s music, and appreciated these edgier opening acts rather than the sickly sweet pop stars I’m sure she could have had. Unsurprisingly, Camila finished her set with the irrevocably catchy Havana which certainly left the crowd wanting more.

The whole production of the night was well done, with only fifteen minutes between each act, giving enough time to leave your set to grab a drink but not enough to get bored. This was made even better by Taylor’s set being prefaced by footage from the ‘Secret Sessions’ where she invited fans to her various properties to hear reputation before it was officially released, as well as behind the scenes footage from the Look What You Made Me Do video.

I mean, is there even any point in me reviewing Taylor’s set? You already know it was great! Alas, we began with voiceovers from news sources talking about Taylor’s bad reputation, the alleged grudges she holds, failed relationships and getting to the top in a shady manner. Then ‘are you ready for it?’ You bet we were! The star strutted onto the stage to sing Ready For It dressed in a long sleeved leotard that probably costs more than my entire house, and a pair of what looked like Louboutin knee high boots which almost certainly do.

Fireworks shot off the top of the stadium as she continued with I Did Something Bad and her backing dancers lifted her up on their shoulders. It was at this point that she greeted the crowd with genuine gratitude that out of all of the things we could be doing in London on a Friday night (with a subtle nod to the fact that she spends a lot of time here with her British boyfriend) that we had chosen to spend it at the reputation tour. As if there was any other option!

She continued with the obligatory ‘you all look so beautiful tonight!’ which turned out to be a clever segue as she searched for a word that meant even more than beautiful. Could it be Gorgeous? I think so, and even her world famous cats Olivia and Meredith made a brief appearance on the screen as she sang “guess I’ll just stumble on home to my cats, alone, unless you want to come along”

It wasn’t just reputation tracks that we got to hear throughout the concert, but also tracks from 1989 including Style and even some proper throwbacks to the Fearless era with Love Story and You Belong With Me which I greatly appreciated as they reminded us all of a very different Taylor Swift of yesterday.

We were swiftly brought back to the present era with snakes galore for Look What You Made Me Do, the staging of which included a literal tilted stage and a huge snake rising from behind the stage. I also appreciated that Taylor also had a snake microphone and one of many costume changes into a snazzy black and gold zipped dress. It’s the little things, you know?

We moved onto End Game and I’m sure I wasn’t the only in the stadium who was wondering if Ed Sheeran would make an appearance. Alas not, and Taylor made the most of the elaborate staging as she continued on with King Of My Heart as male dancers chased her onto the tilted stage, complete with massive drums rolled onto the stage.

Somehow in the midst of all of this, Taylor had time for another costume change, and she returned to the stage in a pretty rainbow dress for one of the coolest and most Taylor Swift-like moments of the concert – hopping into a flying cage to belt out Delicate as she soared over the crowd. She explained too that one of the benefits of playing stadiums in the summer was the transition from light to dark, explaining this as the purpose of all light up bracelets so she could see us all dancing throughout the concert. How sweet.

Her flying chariot landed her on one of the side stages in the middle of the floor, and huge rainbow snakes rose from the ground as she was joined on stage by Charli XCX and Camila for Shake It Off. If everyone in the stadium wasn’t dancing full pelt at this point, I’ll be surprised, and more fireworks lit off above us.

Again, I missed a seamless costume change which can only have happened whilst she was on stage as all of a sudden she was wearing a black leotard topped with a beautiful bedazzled reputation jacket which I really hoped they would have sold as merch, but undoubtedly cost about five million dollars, so… She produced a guitar for an acoustic rendition of Dancing With Our Hands Tied and a special performance of a song she had not yet performed live, So It Goes which I would have been disappointed not to have heard on the tour, so was pleased with that.

She then made a decision which in her position I never would have, to walk through the crowd across the stadium. In spite of fans left, right and centre grabbing at her arms, her smile didn’t fade and she made it to the other mini stage unharmed. Over here, she sang the sassy Blank Space which was her first foray in talking about her reputation before she wrote a whole album about it. We loved it.

Someone somewhere must have been producing costume pieces from behind the floor or something as she slipped on a dress for the sultry Dress with lyrics like “I only bought this dress so you could take it off” (yes, old Taylor well and truly is dead.) As she began Bad Blood, she stepped into a flying snake skeleton (of course) to return to the stage. I loved the decision to mash this up with Should’ve Said No, and her recognition that she came from country music so this nod to her past was not missed by me!

Her elaborate stage split into various different segment for Don’t Blame Me with bursts of flame erupting from the top of the stage. All the dancers left the stage as a piano appeared on stage at which she sat to sing Long Live. Her vocals sounded most beautiful here (not that they didn’t throughout the rest of the concert). This easily transitioned into reputation ballad New Year’s Day. She paused for breath and the applause and cheers picked up, and lasted, I kid you not, for a full five minutes. Taylor sat at the piano, a cute smile on her face as she basked in the well-deserved glory. What a special moment for us all.

The LED screens changed to a video of Taylor in the midst of a desert as a poem she had penned played out of the speakers, and she returned back to the stage in sparkly dress for Getaway Car with stunning scenic visuals projected onto the screens. Again, she stopped to chat with us, explaining how fantastic it was to be playing Wembley, and would we mind if she invited someone who had played Wembley many times on the stage? Of course we wouldn’t. To cheers, Niall Horan came on stage considerably more dressed down in jeans and t-shirt for a duet of Slow Hands before heading back off backstage.

Taylor and her backup dancers began to dance around a fountain on stage to Call It What You Want before we moved into We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. All too soon, we’d reached the last song and Taylor stood atop the fountain as she sang This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. But we can, and we did that night at Wembley.

Fireworks erupted across the stadium as the dancers, singers and Taylor bowed for their adoring crowd. It really was a faultless production – Taylor didn’t falter once, sounding perfect with every note, hitting ever beat and putting on the show we couldn’t have asked for more with. My final thoughts: what a night. And where can I find out Taylor’s lipstick manufacturer? I’ll be back for the next tour. Let’s just hope it’s not too far away.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Taylor Swifts reputation tour! Let me know what you thought in the comments or on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and be sure to drop me a follow for plenty more reviews like this coming very soon. If you’re a Taylor fan, I’d love to hear what your favourite song is too! I’ll always hold a special place in my heart for Enchanted! 

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