OllyI went to see Olly Murs perform at Bristol Sounds as a part of his 15^th anniversary tour and, to my surprise, I quite enjoyed it! Olly Murs is a male solo pop artist first seen as a runner-up on The X Factor in 2009 before, later, becoming a judge on The Voice UK.

I knew a couple of his songs before watching him since he was very popular from the early to mid 2010s. When I arrived, I wasn’t very surprised to see that his main audience seemed to be young to middle-aged women. I honestly didn’t realise how many die-hard fans Olly has until I was there. I think it’s really impressive that he’s able to build such a dedicated fanbase even when he’s not climbing the charts like he used to. Though, I’m slightly concerned by the fact that they had been queuing since 5AM…

The show started at 8:30, opening with a pre-recorded track of Madness’ “One Step Beyond” and got everyone in the zone. After this, he walked out to a crowd of screaming fans. He was joined by a drummer and a couple of brass instrumentalists.

His first number with live vocals was “Troublemaker”. The original version contains a rap verse from American rapper Flo Rida (best known for “Good Feeling”) however, here, he sang an alternate version with a different middle-8. It did its job in filling in the space, but I do prefer the Flo Rida version as it gives more diversity to the song. As for the rest of the song, it was a solid opener and I really liked his energy on stage, although, I would have liked to have heard more of the main melody near the end of the song as he mostly sang harmonies not found in the studio version which was a tiny bit jarring. Overall, still a very good opener.

For his next songs, he seemed to be more tuned in to the vocals of the song. He balanced this with some pretty cool choreography as well. On his sixth number called “Kiss Me” the crowd erupted (I wonder why…) and I ended up moving to the side to avoid getting overstimulated. Plus, there was seating which my feet were dying for. The acoustics over there were a bit weird but I think it was well worth the sacrifice.

He then invited someone named Katie to the stage to perform his recently viral hit: “Up”. She sang the parts that Demi Lovato (Best known for “Sorry Not Sorry”) performs in the studio version. They both captured the essence of the song, and I think their voices blended together better then Olly and Demi’s.

Track 9 was a medley consisting of 4 songs from his most recently released album titled: “Marry Me”. This was, however, the only time in the setlist where this album came up. During this number, the audience finally figured out how to clap on a second beat as they’d previously failed to do for the artist prior. In regard to Olly, I liked his performance here. His transitions were smooth, and he gave each song the emphasis required. One thing I found quite amusing, though, was the juxtaposition between the suggestion of collective drinking found in “Dancing on Cars” being followed by a song called: “I Hate You When You’re Drunk”.

A couple of songs later, he performed another medley, but this time all of the songs were covers of 80s hits featuring Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”, Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and even “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters! This masterfully showed off his diversity as a performer while showing off a bit of the music he grew up with. I think the choices were a tiny bit generic, but I don’t blame him as it kind of needs to be when you’re performing to a vast audience. At the end of the medley, I overheard talk that the stage left toilet was… on fire?! Luckily, it was a false alarm but weird experience, nonetheless. I hadn’t heard of his next 2 songs but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the ambient bass synth found in his song “Seasons”.

The following song called: “Dear Darlin’” was probably the highlight of my experience. It was a touching ballad about the loss of someone important. Just before this, I happened to have seen a photo of me and a, now passed, family member and I felt the emotion portrayed within this song. It’s beautifully written and the studio version is amazing, but I don’t think anything could replicate the feeling of seeing it live. People in the crowd were tearing up and I fully understand why. In a sea of pop songs, he somehow kept his stage presence and personality from the other songs and made it work with a downtempo song. Nothing but respect for this performance.

After this, he performed his famous songs: “Heart Skips a Beat” and (as an encore) “Dance With Me Tonight”. You could tell he’d performed these songs many a time before because it was a polished performance with quite a bit of audience participation. As well as this, he also performed the unreleased song “Save Me” along with an announcement of his next album. This song fit more of a ska genre which I was not expecting but was certainly a welcome change of pace. With this sneak peek into his next album, I’m excited to see what he does next and will be tuning in when it’s released.

In conclusion, Olly Murs served a delightful selection of pieces which were performed well. He found a balance charisma and professionalism which I really commend. However, I’m personally going to wait until his next album drops before seeing him again as his setlist seems to be set in stone for this tour. But if you haven’t seen him recently, he might be one to look out for!

Would recommend.