RICK Astley and his still beautifully quaffed hairdo walked on stage at the BIC to an absolutely rapturous welcome on Thursday night.
Once almost written off as a one-hit wonder from the Stock, Aitken and Waterman Factory, Rick is now accepted as a wonderful entertainer as professional as anyone who performs live.
The show at the BIC is part of his ongoing nationwide tour in support of his 9th studio album Are We There Yet, although he didn’t fall into the trap of long sections of new music which would inevitably dampen the mood.
The sheer variety of songs was astounding, even dipping into Highway to Hell, the AC/DC Classic!
Before Rick’s arrival on stage we were treated to an all too short set from The Lottery Winners and as Rick later said, they will be selling out the BIC themselves on day.
Belinda Carlisle was the middle act and boy, did she show other female artists how to perform and get the crowd eating out or your hand!
She never stopped classily moving around her stage while running through her surprising number of hits, some of which I had forgotten, but certainly remembered when played.
Heaven is a place on Earth, with expected audience reaction, finished the set, so I just hope Belinda does a headlining tour of her own soon.
Although Rick started out his career with his string of 80s hits, he has got the balance right on stage now with not just churning out the old songs but acknowledging they exist and singing a few.
As he said on stage, he regards them as the song equivalent of a warm comfy jumper, to be enjoyed and worn again!
Together Forever and Whenever You Need Somebody got the audience singing and clapping along.
Gone is cheesy Rick, and in its place is serious performer Rick, with a vast back catalogue to choose from.
As it Was, the Harry Styles cover was greeted warmly.
Five tracks from the new album were sung. The show opener Never Gonna Stop and Maria Love, the first encore song, stood out the most for me although they were all superb.
The surprise and highlight of the show for me, and I think a lot of the crowd, was Highway to Hell during the encore.
Rick was full of stories and chat between songs throughout and he informed the audience here that he was originally a drummer, before stepping up to the vacant drum kit.
The classic rocker was hammered out with Rick singing as well.
The audience were certainly swept along and the chorus was sung with gusto.
I must mention the nine-piece band. The sound was superb, with three horns, keyboards and two female vocalists swelling the crystal-clear sound of the more traditional guitar based sound.
It was slightly amusing that during Highway to Hell, everyone except keys was playing guitar, making it an eight-piece guitar band!
The concert came to end, and only one song could close the show.
Never Gonna Give You Up provided the reason for everyone to be on their feet singing and clapping along.
Rick introduced the band during the song without stopping the beat and neatly finished to rapturous applause.
The band lined up on stage to take a farewell bow to ELOs Mr Blue Sky, and then it was time to depart into the chilly night with our own memories of a great show.
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