Digital Editor Tamzin Meyer reviews Free Radio Hits Live, describing it as a night full of star-studded performances

Redbrick Digital Editor
Published

Free Radio Hits Live made its way to Resorts World Arena on November 20th for a night of star-studded performances. Presented by Fleur East and other Hits Radio presenters, the crowd was guaranteed to be singing along to all of the chart-topping hits trending right now. 

The concert overall had a joyful atmosphere that really showcased the talented stars on stage

The concert itself lasted three and a half hours and consisted of nine stars each singing a few of their most popular hits. Whilst the performances themselves were sensational, the wait in between each act was rather tiresome and completely destroyed the energy in the room as points whilst the stage was being set up each time. This being said, the concert overall had a joyful atmosphere that really showcased the talented stars on stage to the best of their ability.

Opening Free Radio Hits Live was none other than Anne Marie, bringing her loveable personality and extraordinary vocal ability to centre stage, singing ‘Kiss My (Uh Oh).’ She then continued to perform a few of her most popular songs including ‘Don’t Play,’ featuring KSI. The duo bounced off each other beautifully, sending the crowd wild. KSI would go on to pleasantly surprise me later on in the show with his song ‘Holiday,’ although I was rather baffled by the special guests he brought on stage that seemed rather out of the blue and quite frankly bizarre; I had never heard of Digital Farm Animals before but seeing a DJ enter the stage wearing a robot pig shaped mask was a rather traumatic experience.

Another favourite from the night had to be Becky Hill whom I had seen perform at her headline concert just the month before. She certainly knew how to light up the stage, being applauded by the crowd for her spontaneous and out-of-this-world acapella rendition of ‘Remember’ due to a technical error with her backing music meaning that she was unable to deliver the performance she had hoped for until a later, more successful attempt. It takes a truly talented artist to still deliver when things do not go to plan, and Becky did just that.

Whilst only having a few songs to sing, both James Arthur and Years and Years somehow managed to forget their setlist, with Olly Alexander ending up singing ‘King’ despite not planning to originally do so. Nevertheless, both acts delivered really enjoyable performances, with fans being so impressed that they forgot the slight blunders made just moments before.

Classic hit ‘Glad You Came’ sent them back on a nostalgic journey

A surprise act made their way onto the stage near the end of the show, replacing Jesy Nelson who had to cancel her performance due to testing positive for the coronavirus. This replacement act was arguably better than Nelson. The Wanted came on stage to sing two songs, which meant that they unexpectedly and undeservingly had the shortest slot of the night. Fans were left wanting more after new song ‘Rule the World’ and classic hit ‘Glad You Came’ sent them back on a nostalgic journey, giving them a taste of what is expected of the band on their tour next year.

Other remarkable performances of the night came from Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Tom Grennan and Dermot Kennedy who were most certainly crowd-pleasers. Free Radio Hits Live definitely selected a spectacular line-up, leaving me feeling proud to have been in the presence of such amazing talents.


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