Glee Live - O2 Arena, London - 25th June 2011 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Written by Katie Territt
With record viewing figures and huge record sales (including 25 singles in the US Billboard Charts at one time), it's no surprise that the cast of Glee are on a sold out tour of arenas around the country. From the moment Glee hit our TV screens, the phenomenon has erupted into something of massive proportions - hell, the word "Gleek" is probably being lined up for the next edition of the Oxford Dictionary!
So from screen to stage, are the young cast of Glee cut out for live performing? Can they bring the show to life without the use of the overused autotune? Well after catching them at the O2 on Saturday night, I can answer with one big fat YES! After a hilarious and typically witty video introduction from Sue Sylvester, the original cast members hit the stage to that famous intro of 'Don't Stop Believin' and it was clear we were in for a great show. Playing their characters from the show (which, just to make it easy, is what I'll refer to them as), the cast brought Glee to life with their great covers and perfected moves.
Florence & The Machine's 'Dog Days Are Over' had an outing next with a great vocal from Tina, before the entire cast performed a heartfelt 'Sing' - good on My Chemical Romance for allowing it to be used on the show! Brittany took to the stage next performing her namesake's 'Slave 4 U' including amazing dance routine, before Puck serenaded Lauren with 'Fat Bottomed Girls'. If you've seen the show, you'll remember Kurt's gorgeous slowed down version of 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' which he performed brilliantly before Mercedes blew the crowd away with her amazing cover of Aretha's 'Aint' No Way' - her voice is even more incredible live and she certainly bought out the goosebumps.
Next up was Artie paying tribute to Michael Jackson with 'P.Y.T', including great Jackson-style dance moves from Mike, before the cast recreated their performance of Gaga's 'Born This Way, even wearing the same t-shirts from the show, naming the parts of themselves they dislike the most (if you were that way inclined, you could've bought one of these from the overpriced merchandise stall for a bargainous 20 quid!) To finish off the first part of the show, lead girlie Rachel blew Katy Perry away vocally with her version of 'Firework'.
After yet another hilarious video introduction from Sue Sylvester, The Warblers' took to the stage for a three song set consisting of 'Teenage Dream', 'Silly Love Songs', and a fantastic 'Raise Your Glass'. Lead vocalist Blaine has by far the best male vocal from the show, and sounded awesome live. Considering it was a Glee show, it was actually The Warblers who got the crowd to their feet singing and dancing along for the first time that evening - clearly the hugely female oriented crowd were enjoying the all-male vocal styling’s of the group!
Back to the Glee cast and a couple of duets which for me were the bookends of least favourite and most favourite performances of the night. First up were Quinn and Sam with 'Lucky' - a song that didn’t quite have the impact most of the others did. Not that it mattered because the house was brought down next with Mercedes' and Santana's version of 'River Deep, Mountain High'. An absolutely awesome rendition which showed the powerhouse of these girls' vocals - the first song to get me up on my feet, I couldn't resist! Male lead Finn was up next with 'Jessie's Girl' before Santana was back for her Amy Winehouse style 'Valerie', accompanied by some great Brittany and Mike moves. The regular show was then bought to a close with 'Loser Like Me', one of the show's original songs which had all the "Gleek's" joining in with the lyrics and singing every word back to the cast.
After a brief break, it was encore time, and what a better way to start than with Kurt's infamous 'Single Ladies' performance from Season One, complete with Beyonce style moves and dancers. Talk about a crowd pleaser! Another great scene from the show was recreated next when Artie got a break from his wheelchair to show his fantastic dance moves for 'Safety Dance' before he was joined onstage by the full cast for Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' 'Empire State Of Mind'. Lastly, for a perfect ending to the show, what better way than to perform a British rock anthem from Season One - 'Somebody To Love'. Definitely a great ending!
So all in all, Glee Live was fantastic. The cast on the whole totally proved themselves as singers, most sounding much much better live than on the show - and I have to admit, it was nice not to have to see the OTT miming that most of them showcase in each episode. I do have a couple of criticisms - one back-handed one being that the show was a little short. Considering Glee is two seasons old now, they have enough songs to have performed for a few hours, so at 80mins long, it fell a little short to be honest - I could've watched a lot more. Secondly, the show consisted mainly of songs from Season Two, because the cast have already performed a Season One tour. What they failed to address is that the Season One tour only happened in the US - those of us in the UK didn't get to see that tour, so unfortunately missed out on some great Season One songs that would've been great to see live. Perhaps two different tours would've been a lot of hard work for the cast, but it certainly would've been a great show for us.
That being said, I can't fault the performances or the atmosphere that the Glee cast created. The extra little acted parts in between songs added to the feeling of being part of a Glee episode, and there's no denying that these kids are some of the hardest working in the business. So all I can say is bring on Season Three and another live tour!
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Next up was Artie paying tribute to Michael Jackson with 'P.Y.T', including great Jackson-style dance moves from Mike, before the cast recreated their performance of Gaga's 'Born This Way, even wearing the same t-shirts from the show, naming the parts of themselves they dislike the most (if you were that way inclined, you could've bought one of these from the overpriced merchandise stall for a bargainous 20 quid!) To finish off the first part of the show, lead girlie Rachel blew Katy Perry away vocally with her version of 'Firework'. 
