James Arthur, gig review: 'He was largely on his best behaviour'
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Midway through this seventy-five-minute early date on his debut headline tour, 2012 X-Factor winner James Arthur made the unlikely confession that he isn’t really into talking. “I'm probably just going to be saying thank you a lot,” said the 25-year-old Middlesbrough singer, and we can only thank heaven for small mercies.
This is, after all, the man who nearly destroyed his own career a few months ago by making public a song which contained homophobic insults directed at another singer.
Yet he was largely on his best behaviour here, one reference to a “GILF” directed at a lady who identified herself as a grandmother notwithstanding. Yet otherwise he was personable, shaking hands and – as predicted – saying thank you a lot to those more enthusiastic souls lining the edge of the stage at his feet.
Musically the mixture presented by his four-piece band and pair of backing singers was upbeat if not exactly divergent from the usual Cowell-approved template.
There was an affirmative anthem in new single "Get Down", a faithful if low-key cover of Marvin Gaye’s "Let’s Get It On", and some indication of where his lapses into controversy come from with an enthusiastic tribute to his hero Eminem before the hip-hop beat of "Supposed" kicked in.
His big hit "Impossible" waited until the end, and as impassioned a singalong as might be heard anywhere this year.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments