Tuesday Week 3 I had the pleasure of going to see Years & Years. I felt very lucky to have a ticket to this sold out gig for one of the hottest acts of this year.
I wouldn’t rate the support which that evening was Shamir. Though a couple of their songs had got on to my radar, their set was too loudly – the singer borderline shrieked some of the time – and their engagement with the audience wasn’t great. By this point, the venue had filled up and much to my horror, the room was void of air and incredibly hot, never have I even felt more like I was at a concert in a sauna.
Years and Years came on stage at 9:10 to screams and cheers from the entire room. First, I must say, that Olly’s voice is absolutely phenomenal, far better than on the album even. They sang hit after hit, going from Desire and Real, to Eyes Shut and Ties and the crowd and danced along happily. That along with the simple but clever brightly coloured lights and lasers (along the theme of their album cover) created a real party atmosphere. Olly got a girl lifted out of the crowd because he liked the sign she had made, and let her sit next to him by the piano while he sang.
Later he got a couple of girls on stage who danced with him (and of course there were some selfies). Saying that it was good that they weren’t over involved and didn’t linger, and Olly was chatty and casual with the audience. Anyone who knows this band will know they aren’t afraid to take on a cover and usually succeed at making it their own. They revealed their surprise cover to be Toxic by Britney Spears which was an amazing choice and was a crowd pleaser, plus they managed to make such a well known classic their own once more. For their encore they came back on to belt out ‘King’, cue lots of bouncing and arm waving, but a very fitting end to a fantastic and fun gig.
I really recommend trying to catch them next year when they start the next leg of their tour!
