Music > Live Reviews

James Arthur

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

10/03/17

James Arthur will in the eyes of many always be the young man that won the ninth series of X-Factor back in 2012. However, he has always been a cut above the other contestants, many of whom have gone on to become major stars!

He is a real artist that deserves bigger and better things, even if he has lived a bit of a controversial life since going off the rails in recent years, upsetting various people including a few celebrities along the way with some alleged homophobic comments that lead to iTunes offering to refund people that had purchased his music.

Tonight he is back with a vengeance with the appropriately named Back From The Edge tour, his second album of the same name and he looks in terrific shape. This is the first night of the said tour and it goes off with a bang.

He already had a number two album from his self-titled debut and he now has a number one album in his back pocket coupled with two number one singles.

He is honest and frank in his conversation this evening and explains just how great it felt to have Say You Won’t Let Go go to number one - in his darkest hours he never believed that he would one day be back at the top of the charts. Then he discusses how pissed off he was when Clean Bandit's Rockabye then knocked him off of the top spot - he duly launches into a cover version of the said track, Rok A Bye.

Safe Inside, Can I Be Him and You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You all stand out tonight alongside Say You Won’t Let Go.

He has a diverse audience appeal, with the crowd’s age this evening ranging from eleven to a couple of late sixty year olds. It’s no wonder that he is so popular as he constantly engages with the audience throughout the eighteen song set list that naturally includes Impossible, the most successful winners single from the X-Factor, it still sounds great too.

If Arthur has in the past been something of a rough diamond, then this evening proves that his is more of a polished stone these days. He is such an adorable rogue. The recovery period is well and truly over and this is a very accomplished set, proving that he is a real star, a very talented individual indeed and he fully deserves to be back in the game.

Welcome back young man. It’s good to have you back.