JAMIROQUAI’S HOMECOMING TRIUMPH AT LONDONS O2

From Sheffield to London’s O2: Jamiroquai. A Mesmerising performance from the 90s God of funk.

As the train rattled out of Sheffield yesterday afternoon, I was filled with a cocktail of both keen anticipation and a slight tinge of regret, that’s not exactly how I roll on a Tuesday, fighting the M1’s propensity for snarl-ups and the packed Hull train for a mid-week show. However, upon hearing that the Jamiroquai tour, dubbed the “Heels of Steel Tour,” was coming to the UK’s capital, stopping off at the iconic O2 Arena, yeah, Manchester had slipped straight past me! I just had to get on the next train south.

To the cries of are you mental, I headed straight from yoga and a gruelling therapy session, packed my camera and chucked myself in an Uber. I was ready for anything that I could get on record, from the photographic coverage of the show, right down to the write-up itself. Coming off a hiatus that’s measured not in years, but perhaps even decades, for this lifelong admirer of their particular ’90s funk-meets-soul sound, missing it simply was not optional.

When I first launched this very magazine, I walked into Eddie Piller’s Acid Jazz office in Shoreditch (I was helping out with some compilation albums on Well Suspect, an offshoot label) and was struck immediately by a life‑size cut‑out of Jay Kay. I joked that he had to let me take it home (he didn’t, and I’ll never forgive him, ha), there’s always been a deep love for these songs. Jamiroquai’s journey began on Piller’s Acid Jazz label in 1992, releasing their debut single When You Gonna Learn before moving to Sony’s S2 imprint for their first full album. For those of us who were there at the start, the devotion was strong enough to walk over hot coals to see him play the O2.

As I arrived in the capital and joined the enthusiastic crowds swarming into the O2, the arena was alive, packed with people ranging from Gen X sloganeers in buffalo caps to new fans brought on board through the wonders of TikTok and “Virtual Insanity.” It had all the makings of a dazzling arena show, theatre-in-the-round staging, with Jay Kay front and centre, among trippy light tunnels on large screens.

Covering thirty years of music, from the acid‑jazz breakthrough Emergency on Planet Earth to songs yet to be released, Jay Kay showed his vocal power is still razor‑sharp.

The lights dimmed around 8:30 PM, and the band launched with “(Don’t) Give Hate a Chance”, the beginning of a journey that saw hits meld with new material off their forthcoming album. Frontman Jay Kay, 55, looks great; he hasn’t skipped a beat, his voice rich and pleasurable, and the distinctive dance moves (hat flips included) got the whole arena moving. Standouts featured “Canned Heat,” where the collective pogoing of the crowd felt like a seismic shock, and the jazz-inflected, reduced-velocity “Seven Days in Sunny June,” which highlighted the band’s chops. Even new material, such as “Disco Stays the Same” and “Shadow in the Night,” slotted smoothly, suggesting that, despite the evolution, the group’s foundation of acid jazz remains intact.

It felt as though time had stopped. Jay Kay possesses a magnetism that makes it impossible to look away from him. I’ve only encountered one other person with that kind of presence, Ian Brown and now JK.

Jay’s got that mojo dialled up to eleven, his soulful delivery on ‘Seven Days in Sunny June’ gave me chills, blending jazz improvisation with pure groove.

The lighting effects, from strobes during Space Cowboy to warm amber washes for the ballads, set the mood perfectly and elevated the show’s theatricality. Jay Kay was in his element, twirling through Little L with sweat glistening under the spotlights, his trademark hat flips and dance moves igniting the crowd. You could tell he was enjoying it, which always makes a show more memorable. At times, the pyrotechnics threatened to overshadow the groove, impressive as it all was. Jamiroquai doesn’t need it, their talent outshines any strobe light, but the band’s tight musicianship kept the funk at the forefront. Polish and great lighting isn’t the enemy of excitement, though, and Jamiroquai proved that slick execution can still ignite a crowd.

By the encore, the arena was a frenzy, turning the O2 into a collective dance floor, with fans pogoing, shouting, and losing themselves in the rhythm. What makes Jamiroquai endure isn’t just nostalgia, it’s their ability to deliver pure escapism through funk, a reminder of how music can lift you out of the everyday grind. This tour feels like Jay Kay reclaiming his mojo, and it’s electric.

This wasn’t a gig, it was a resurrection. Jay Kay is blazing, and proved that the groove never left, it just evolved. Jamiroquai remain untouchable.

Rating: 5/5 – A complete and utter triumphant comeback, that proves Jamiroquai are eternal…

Jamiroquai played: