Concert review: British boy band Blue turn back time for fans in surprisingly short set

Blue 20th Anniversary Heart & Soul Tour Singapore

The Theatre at Mediacorp
Thursday

British vocal quartet Blue, known for their early 2000s R&B-tinged pop hits, returned to Singapore on Thursday evening after last performing here in 2019.

The show was part of the boy band’s global 20th Anniversary Heart & Soul Tour, a global jaunt marking over two decades since they released their 2001 debut album All Rise.

The line-up has remained constant all these years – Antony Costa, 41; Simon Webbe, 43; Duncan James, 44; and Lee Ryan, 39. Save for a hiatus from 2005 to 2011, the foursome never really went away.

Here are three highlights from the concert.

1. The set list was almost a full-on nostalgia trip

Blue are no has-beens, playing some newer songs such as Haven’t Found You Yet and Dance With Me from their sixth album, Heart & Soul, released in October 2022.

Still, the bulk of the music was from 20 years back. The set list was essentially a Best Of Blue compilation, and the biggest sing-along of the night accompanied hits such as If You Come Back (2001), their version of American R&B group Next’s Too Close (2001) and Bubblin (2004).

They also pulled off a medley of even older covers, a mix of Motown tunes that included Stevie Wonder’s classic Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours (1970) and Kool & the Gang’s 1981 hit Get Down On It.

And, yes, they may be getting on in years, but the members can still pull off the synchronised dance moves, the ones that you may be familiar with from their music videos of yore.

2. They still have what it takes to drive fans wild

It took a couple of songs to get the 1,400-strong crowd warmed up. When Blue came on stage to croon Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (2002), the fans cheered but remained seated.

But when the quartet launched into U Make Me Wanna from their second album One Love (2002), audiences were up on their feet and dancing. There were some futile attempts from the ushers to get them to sit down again, but once the genie was out of the bottle, it was a party until the end of the show.

Most of the crowd, who looked like they were in their teens or tweens when the early albums were released, sang along and there were even some who could still pull off Blue’s dance moves.

There were also way more women than men in the audience, a fact that Webbe pointed out with glee. “If I could snog all of you on the lips, I would,” James declared, eliciting screams of delight.

3. The show was a little short

At a little over an hour, Blue’s gig – with tickets going from $128 to $368 – was shorter than your average international pop concert.

There were no breaks or intervals, and the group powered through non-stop.

When Blue announced rather abruptly that All Rise, the 2001 hit that kick-started their music career, would be the last song, the fans looked a little confused.

The quartet came on again for just one encore, their signature track One Love (2002), and left the stage for good.

Ms Phoebe Quek, a 34-year-old project engineer who forked out $232 for her ticket, said: “For the price I paid, I wished it was a longer set list, especially since they played at a small venue with no special stage props or live band. But it was still an amazing trip (that brought back) childhood memories.”