Last year’s X Factor contestants Only the Young have been busy touring the UK this month on their first headline tour. Their ‘Up Close and Personal‘ tour has taken them across the country including London, Manchester and Glasgow. Last night they performed in the Globe in Cardiff so I went along to check them out.
I arrived just as the doors were about to open so there was already quite a long queue of fans snaking down the street. Once we were let inside, we were greeted by lots of merchandise being sold for OTY and their support acts (some of whom were personally selling their merch to the fans!). We went to find a good spot to stand (due to the intimacy of the venue, you still had a clear view from near the back) and within around fifteen minutes the gig was starting.
First onto the stage were twin brothers The Brooks, who were at the X Factor judges houses with OTY. They opened with a Michael Jackson medley which was really enjoyable. Josh and Kyle then encouraged a crowd sing-a-long by performing Rihanna’s track Four Five Seconds. They finished their set by performing an original track called Cinderella which will be available to download soon. I enjoyed their set and they sang a good mix of songs in order to get the crowd going!
Secondly there was four-piece pop band Canary Swing, made up of lead singer George Crump, guitar player Cory Gaffney, bass player Ben Crook and drummer Bradley Wool. Their set was incredibly energetic! They are great performers and mainly played original songs, which everyone found to be catchy! A personal favourite of mine was Right Now which everybody ended up singing along to. They also played a fantastic cover of Rita Ora’s Poison, putting their own spin on the hit song. To end their set they performed my favourite song of theirs, Second Star to the Right which was a massive hit with the crowd. It was great to hear so many people singing along with them!
The last support act were the ever incredible Concept! The five piece boyband from Basingstoke are made up of Karim Newton, Matt Goodenough, Nathan Gittens, Scott Dicks and Ben Selley. They too were at judges houses with OTY. In all honesty, the fact that they were a support act was one of the main reasons that I went to this gig and they most definitely did not disappoint! They opened with an exciting version of Uptown Funk which without doubt got all of the crowd moving! Amongst the high energy songs they performed, they also slowed things down a bit with a cover of Nick Jonas’ Jealous as well as an original song called Last Man Standing, both of which pleased the crowd immensely. Ben’s incredible guitar skills and all of the guys’ faultless vocals compliment each other perfectly. One of the highlights of their set for me was their cover of Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive which is always a big crowd pleaser. Not only does it show off their amazing vocals, but Karim incorporates an incredible original rap (with the help of Matt) which excited the crowd even further! They finished with another original called Young and Rebellious which got the crowd bouncing – it’s such a fun and feel good song about making the most of being young. The chemistry between the guys is so real, you can tell that they have been friends for years and that they genuinely enjoy every minute on stage together. Trust me when I tell you that they should be your next boyband obsession!!
Finally it was time for the headline act, Only The Young. Made up of Mikey Bromley, Charlie George, Betsy-Blue English and Parisa Tarjomani, they created a dramatic entrance before bouncing onto the stage and launching straight into a medley of Jailhouse Rock and Twist’n’Shout, as performed on the X Factor. I’ve never seen the band perform before so I was pleasantly surprised by their faultless harmonies, as they continued their set with covers such as Blame it on the Boogie and Something About The Way You Look Tonight which got the crowd moving. Charlie and Parisa both displayed great skills on the guitar. They also performed some original material, including a great song called Little White Lies. Unfortunately, not helped by how warm the venue was, Charlie fell ill mid set and had to rush off the stage, missing the rest of the set. Up until then you could see that OTY also had great chemistry together as a four-piece and it was evident that they felt as if a limb was missing when Charlie was taken ill. However they must be commended as they did a superb job of keeping up the energy and carrying on for the first time as a three piece. They did an incredible cover of Toploader’s Dancing in the Moonlight, a song that I haven’t heard in years. Other highlights included their versions of Wake Me Up and I Won’t Give Up. For one song only, an octoband was formed as OTY enlisted the help of Concept in order to perform Walk The Moon’s Shut Up and Dance which lifted the energy in the room and got the whole crowd jumping around. They ended their set with their debut single, I Do which was a sing-a-long song for the entire audience.
Overall, it was a fantastic evening and to top it off, all of the acts spent time meeting fans outside. For an intimate venue, the Globe was superb and allowed everyone to have a good view of the great talent on offer. All of the acts put on a marvellous show and I suggest that you go and check them out!