Alexander O'Neal/Mr Thing

Alexander O'Neal, love god of the 80's, is 63 but still has funk pouring out of every pore. Tonight's gig which has moved from St Andrew's Hall to Epic is seated and sold out with 750 very excited couples and groups of women. There are a lot of mum hairdos and pressed jeans and the vibes are pumped. With a full live band, including two keys players and a bongo player as well as three backing singers, this show doesn't mess about. There are even three huge screens behind the stage, with the middle showing his record sleeves, portraits of AO throughout time and some amazing and perfect graphics including night time cityscapes and just, you know, hearts, because O'Neal is For The Lovers.

Alexander's dressed all in black, and even though his voice is quiet to the point of inaudible at times, he has to sit down for ballads (who doesn't) and has 10 minutes breather offstage halfway through the hour-long show, he does very well. His positive attitude, gratitude to the crowd and obvious enjoyment onstage is genuine. The band are tight and loud and polished throughout , as are the backing singers. Midway through the show which includes classics from throughout his career including Innocent, Hearsay and Never Knew Love Like This we are treated to a sweet ass medley of songs from Pop Stars Who Have Recently Died, including Rock With You, Let's Dance, Careless Whisper and Kiss. This was a total blast - hearing portions of these stone cold classics played and sung live was just so much fun - everyone danced and sang along. In fact one of the best things about this show was the sheer joy and enthusiasm shown by the crowd - it made my heart burst to see how much fun everyone was having, and there was none of that aloofness that I see so often at other gigs. Alexander seems delighted by the response. He seems like a lovely guy - it's just a bit heartbreaking that we can barely hear him, and surprising as he brought his own sound engineer. Just turn his mic up yo! The last two tracks of the night were of course If You Were Here Tonight, the most ultimate love ballad of all the love ballads, and one of my favourite songs of all time. He does it proud. And of course Criticize is the last number, and everyone gives it their all. What a great show.