So last night was my first Will concert of 2004 and hopefully not my last because, as usual, he was fantastic! Everyone there came out saying exactly that – his vocals were better than ever and he came across as the loveliest person in the world, which is unsurprising really as that’s just what he is. He played all the best songs and my only two (very tiny) complaints were that he didn’t do any new covers and only wore one outfit for the whole night. The evening was very much focused on the music, with no fireworks or rehearsed comedy pieces, but this was a good thing as Will came off as a true professional and proved once again just how talented he is. His voice is always great but he was on particularly good form. I was 10 rows back which is about the closest I’ve been at a Will concert, so I managed to take some pretty good pictures which you will see throughout my review. Apologies if they take a while to load. You can also right click HERE to download a video of Will doing his favourite dancing move – the knee bend! He’s the one in white, centre stage if you can spot him.
Support Act – Rodrigo y Gabriela
These two were surprisingly great and not boring as I’d expected. They also seemed really lovely when they spoke between songs. They said that they had been hand-picked by Will to join him and no record companies were involved, as I has suspected. They were so very ‘Will’. They didn’t sing, just played their guitars and looked pretty:
And then the real show began!
Stronger
Most of this song was spent with Will behind a thin, semi-transparent curtain, which created quite a suited effect to the song. As each instrument or singer did their thing the spotlight highlighted them behind the curtain. The music was extremely loud and I was quite worried that I was going to have a heart attack at one point, but luckily I lived to tell the tale. The song sounded brilliant live, as the backing music is just so lovely and Will can sing the high bits much better now than when he first performed it on TV. Eventually the curtain went up and Will appeared to massive cheers, in an outfit of white stripey polo shirt with black tie and grey trousers. He looked very real up there, he seemed very slim and and his hair wasn’t as short as I’d expected – a very nice length actually.
Dance The Night Away
The first upbeat song of the night and it sounded groovy as ever. This was the only new track sung at Exeter that made the final album and although it’s a bit odd with two completely different verses, it’s one of my favourites on Friday’s Child. It went down very well, getting everyone up on their feet to join Will dancing the night away. None of us were dancing quite as gaily as Will though!
Friday’s Child
Will does sound particularly excellent singing this but I’m very unsure about it being the next single. Hopefully the video, which looks hilarious, will save it.
There was a rather funny bit around this point when someone in the crowd was tooting a strange sounding horn and Will wanted to know who it was. When he found out he said, “Well…do you want to stop?” but then said, “You don’t have to. Who’s going to make you?” and then answered with, “Those men in yellow jackets!” Of all the people there, Will decided to have a conversation with himself!
Very Kind
This is my favourite track on the album and I very much enjoyed hearing it live for the first time. I’m glad this isn’t the single, despite it being the best track, because I don’t want it to be spoiled.
Light My Fire
On Sunday I posted Will’s first and still best rendition of this song on Into The Groove. Well, I am very pleased and proud to announce that he has topped it! LMF was one of my favourite songs of the night. I think it’s because he has sung it so many times that he can do it so perfectly now.
Hey Ya
It is amazing that Will can take this catchy, fun song and turn it into the most gorgeous love song. I don’t mind the original but this is one of my favourite Will tracks. I’m very pleased that it’s going to be on the Friday’s Child CD and in fact I think they should make it an actual b-side – everyone should hear this!
Love Is A Matter Of Distance
This was part of the acoustic section that began with Hey Ya. It is a very pretty song which my Mum loves but it certainly wasn’t the most exciting part of the night for me.
Evergreen
I was wondering if Will would sing this or not, because although it’s not at all the type of song Will should be singing and I highly doubt anyone there came for this, he did break records with the sales figures and win Pop Idol with it. I was quite pleased that he did sing it because he has actually made it into a lovely song and after this and Hey Ya, I was left wondering if there is any song that Will cannot make brilliant.
Over You
I couldn’t work out what this song was when it started, as he sang it in quite a different style. This was never a favourite on From Now On, I must say, but it sounded quite good although I have to say I was a little distracted by Will doing what could only be described as grinding with the microphone!
Love The One You’re With
This sounded really great live and got everyone dancing. Even the most uptight-looking mums were bopping about! It was many people’s guess that Will had to do one cover for the album and I’m very pleased that this is what he chose. It doesn’t exactly blend in with the other tracks, but I do see the album as a set of separate tracks rather than one long album because there are so many styles on it.
You And I
Will has done some very good performances of You & I in the past, as there’s a massive long note near the end (Youououou and iiiiiiiii!) where he can really impress us, and impress us he did. It’s funny that a year ago this was the best original song Will had released. Of course it still is very good, but now there are so many ace original songs to choose from. That thought made me especially proud. Posh William from Pop Idol has made it BIG!
Your Game
It was great to see this live as Will always does a really good job with it, but it did highlight the rubbishness of the background (some slightly amateurish and dizzying patterns on little screens) compared to the fantastic theatre in the video.
Leave Right Now
It’s odd that this was the first time I’ve seen Will sing LRN live, or in fact any of the Friday’s Child song apart from Dance The Night Away. This song seems to have elected itself as the one to get Will known around the world as a huge talent with great songs and if he continues to improve into the next album, he’ll be the biggest star in the world in no time at all!
Ticket To Love
I was surprised that he did this again as he always does it live yet it’s never been released other than asa live b-side to Leave Right Now. I guess it is a song just for singing live and it does sound very fab live. It’s so groovy, soulful and fun and I was proud that for the first time I could actually sing along as I worked out the difficult to hear lyric in the chorus from the CD version. I wonder if a studio recorded version of TTL actually exists?
Free
I was at one point wondering if he was going to do Free at all as I didn’t expect it to be the finale. The fact that it was just proves that it should be the new single. It did of course sound great live and was a perfect choice, to end on a high note. Perhaps it’ll be the fourth single, if there is one.
