My kids and I went to see James Blunt at the Royal Albert Hall last night and he most certainly did not disappoint. I find it a little bit extraordinary that he’s the artist that we collectively all love – even my youngest, whose go-to choice of music has always been Grime rap. Apparently he even recently told a girl that he was talking to in the pub that he really liked James Blunt – and was surprised when it didn’t go down that well.
So, on the 2nd anniversary of my mother’s death, there was nothing we wanted to do more than all get together and sing our little hearts out and have a laugh at his self-deprecating humour. “I’m known for my miserable songs and my high voice – my balls still haven’t dropped.” On that basis he invited all the girls to sing along with him and gave the men the job of starting of the Mexican wave that erupted as a result. He also asked us to get our torches out and wave them around and in my opinion, the Albert Hall had never looked more joyfully sparkly.
His support act was Lucy Spraggan – she too was excellent and we’ll be following up on her too as well as listening more to his new album “Who We Used To Be.” He sang his really beautiful, moving song “The Girl That Never Was” all about an unborn child. He’s immensely good at shooting you straight in the heart with his songs – like “Monsters” the one he wrote about his ill father, when he was in need of a new kidney. I love the video – he’s very emotional and we just stare straight into his face and teary eyes for most of the song. When his father appears he looks a little bemused about the whole thing as he sits next to him and puts his hand on his arm and then pats him affectionately at the end. When he sang it last night, lots of lovely old photos appeared of them together:-
He got us all singing, ran about into the audience, played the piano as well as his guitar and basically gave it his all. The only really bad thing he did was to wish Jeremy Clarkson who was in the audience a “Happy Birthday.” He also did a shout out to his sister Emily. She at least has a pretty good comeback line when people confuse her with the actress Emily Blunt “no I’m not, but my brother is James Blunt.”
He’s in there somewhere getting eaten alive by the audience:-
He sang all his old bangers “You’re Beautiful”, “Goodbye My Lover”, “High”, “Wisemen”, “Bonfire Heart”, “1973” and many more and thanked us for making one of his childhood dreams come true. He sang 20 in total and it was truly one of the best concerts I’ve been to and made all the more special by being there with my kids and my son’s girlfriend.
The second song he sang was “Saving A Life” – enhanced by the magnificent back drop of a moving seascape:-
The Albert Hall is one of my favourite buildings. Iconic and splendid. It’s no wonder it was a childhood dream of his to play there. We were quite high up and towards the back, but I don’t really think there’s a bad seat in the house. The tickets of course are not cheap. I used to get them all for free when I worked in the music business and knew a woman who owned 3 seats….oh well it was a special occasion and the acoustics are amazing. Not sure why they have to charge so much at the bar though? My son had to pay £50 for a bottle of wine – that’s ridiculous. Talking of wine…we’re going to stalk him at his pub The Fox and Pheasant in Chelsea next (although I’m also going to see him at The Hay Festival where he will be promoting his new book). Whoop!!
