JAMES BLUNT AT THE O2: AN ANNIVERSARY TOUR DONE RIGHT

LIVE REVIEW | JAMES BLUNT | LONDON O2 ARENA 16th February 2025 by James O’Sullivan

Everyone around in 2005 roughly knows James Blunt’s story. A former captain in the British Army, the siren-voiced soldier turned singer songwriter released debut album ‘Back To Bedlam’ at the tail end of 2004, along with a string of singles; the third of which, ‘You’re Beautiful’ went pretty much everywhere. Then, the world turned on him. Damon Albarn, Noel Gallagher… as Blunt himself mentioned on the night, “even Charlotte fucking Church said she hated me!” 

Since then, though, public sentiment has changed. It’s not quite obvious as to when, exactly, but it’s undeniable — much like oft-hated Canadian rock megastars Nickelback, the global opinion on James Blunt has shifted back into the green (though, also as with Nickelback, why it was ever in the red is arguably still a mystery). Books, talk show appearances, even a Netflix special; and, as with the O2, a mostly-sold-out tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of debut album Back To Bedlam… although the venues being a good 10x bigger than the sorts of rooms the troubadour would have graced 20 years ago showed just how far he’d come.

There was no queuing at the O2, no incessant need to get up the front; the show was sold without a standing area, the usual terrace instead replaced by additional blocks of seating. This led to a much more relaxed affair — less screaming groupie and more politely applauding families, whole generations happily spending their Sunday watching the troublesome troubadour let loose. In fact, Blunt is arguably more infamous now for his online antics than the seminal album the tour was promoting, and the show was no different; between the (presumably) photo-shopped photos of ‘people that command respect’ — including Elon Musk, King Charles and Donald Trump — wearing the exclusive and elegant of James Blunt-emblazoned merchandise out for sale in the foyer flirting across the screen and the man’s own posts on social media, chowing down on a box of chicken from ‘Chicken Shop’, unrecognised by the passerbys inevitably there for him, the man’s the definition of tongue-in-cheek. 

TOPLOADER

But, before the night got back to Back To Bedlam, it was time for special guests Toploader to take the stage. With the band eminently about to embark on their own anniversary tour — 25 years of Onka’s Big Moka — the band were evidently in high spirits, launching straight into tracks like ‘Roll With The Punches’, ‘Time Of My Life’ and ‘Achilles Heel’, frontman Joseph Washbourn’s keyboard taking on an almost soulful, liturgical feel — Americana via Sussex! 

Finally, a duo of covers came to finish off the set. First up came ELO’s ‘Mr Blue Sky’ — a track that’s soon to get its final non-cover airing, with ELO playing their farewell show in Hyde Park’s BST in the Summer. And, lastly — joining the likes of Natalie Imbruglia’s ‘Torn’, Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’, Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ and The Beatles’ ‘Twist and Shout’ as tracks that some people don’t realise are actually covers — came Toploader’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, a track which saw the entirety of the venue, from the front to the back, the floor to the gods, on their feet and having a cheeky dance. Glorious for 19:45 on a Sunday!

The strength of their performance, and the raucous applause from the slowly-filling O2, screamed a band that should be playing the venue off of their own backs — as opposed to the likes of the gorgeous (but incredibly intimate) sea-bound venue of Thekla in Bristol. Do yourselves a favour and get down to one of their shows in April. 

JAMES BLUNT

A warning early into James Blunt’s set seemed to set the scene quite nicely. “If you brought your children, I’m sorry — I swear a lot to make up for being a posh twat”. It’s hard to know just how much is the public persona and how much is just the person — but the constant stream of candid anecdotes, tongue-in-cheek entendres and a general sense of impishness gave the night a disarmingly sense of intimacy, despite the venue’s size. “Who bought the album back in 2005?”, he asked? “I have a lovely house in Ibiza thanks to you!”

Indeed, judging by the set, he’s evidently not forgotten where he started — in fact, it was an example of an anniversary tour done right. The entire album got its airing, some songs for the first time in 14 years (before the first night of this tour, anyway), despite allegedly just being ‘an acid trip in Devon.’ In order, too!

This meant, of course, that a fair few of the bard’s biggest hits serenaded the arena before the 20-minute mark — opener ‘High’, the crowd scrambling unilaterally to their feet, led quickly into seminal hit ‘You’re Beautiful’, and contemporary album singles (and standouts) ‘Wisemen’ and ‘Goodbye My Lover’. “Right, it’s all downhill from here”, we’re warned, an admission that’s somewhere between joking and dead-serious. But of course, it isn’t just the singles that make the album so iconic — there’s the rocky catharsis of ‘Out of My Mind‘, the jazzy ‘Billy’ (and the suspect story behind it), the beautifully emotional ballad ‘No Bravery’, Blunt sat at his upright piano while footage presumably taken during his own service played behind him. Thankfully, even though the album had come to an end James Blunt and his merry men seemed to just be getting warmed up.

All The Lost Souls hits ‘I’ll Take Everything’ and ‘Carry You Home’, came up first, the latter seeming like a confession from the raconteur about milking ‘You’re Beautiful’ for all it was worth, until it was that most vaunted of times — with a ukelele coming out, it was “time for the big ones”. The jaunty ‘Postcards’ soon followed, although perhaps the raconteur missed a trick in not throwing on a lei, along with both a manic-faced cover of Slade’s ‘Coz I Luv You’ — the madman racing through the crowd and basking in the arena’s unanimous adoration — and the Mexican-wave featuring ‘Stay The Night’. 

The emotional ‘Monsters’ and ‘All The Lost Souls’ standout ‘Same Mistake’ brought the set to a close — but it was the dual encore of the anthemic ‘Bonfire Heart’ and the nostalgic, heartwarming and melancholy fan favourite ‘1973’ that saw the room come alive, one last time.

Watching James Blunt in action, what strikes you the most isn’t his wit — although the early thank you to boyfriends or husbands out in the crowd, along with the earnest wish for them to be ‘thanked’ afterwards (and even offering to ‘help’ by coming to watch) was certainly memorable — nor necessarily the hits that have made him such a household name. Rather, it was the sheer volume of adoration from the room; whether from fans who have grown up listening to him, or from newcomers reluctantly respecting the wholesome human being spending his night performing for the masses, the O2 was full of nothing but love. 

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