Tuesday 26 November 2019

Concert Review: a1 - The Reunion Tour 2019

Hi everyone,

I had the pleasure of seeing a1 perform live on the 4th November 2019 at Manchester Academy 3. This was a very unclose and personal concert as Academy 3 holds just over 400 people, and what a very fun and enjoyable evening it was.


The show opened up with the opening verse of 'Forever in Love' and then the more upbeat 'Same Old Brand New You', followed by a combination of 'Be the First to Believe/ Summertime of our Lives'. What a fun way to kick off a concert with late 90s nostalgia, and we also had our first dance lesson of the evening as we got shown the moves to 'Be the First to Believe'. We where then treated to an acoustic version of 'One More Try', which was lovely to listen too. We were then treated to another dance lesson for the number 'Ready or Not', and the dance was created by Paul; and then the music began to flow, and then it slowed down just a little bit for the ballad of 'Walking in the Rain', which was followed by the audience jumping up and down to 'Don't Wanna Lose You Again', which is such a fun modern pop number. I loved listening to 'Heaven By Your Side' live, as its one of my personal favourites from their debut album. Then we had the medley that was entitled 'The Songs We Never Did/ Rarely Performed', and this included the hits 'Here Comes the Rain', 'I'll Take the Tears', 'Tomorrow', 'Make it Through the Night', 'When I'm Missing You','Hey You' & 'The Things We Never Did'. We were then treated to 'Learn to Fly', which was then followed by 'I'm in Love and I Hate It', which also involved a little bit of audience participation. We then got treated to their latest single that was released last year entitled 'Armour'. Then it was back to a1 classics that everyone knows and loves with the lovely 'Everytime', and the ever popular 'Caught in the Middle'; which was actually the acoustic version.


We then had a short break, which was followed by an encore in the form of the very popular and very lovely Benthm 'Like a Rose', which everyone knows and loves; and the show closed with their first ever Number One 'Take on Me'.

But that wasn't all we were treated too, as an audience we got chance to listen to a couple of exclusive songs that haven't been released yet, and are not due to be released until sometime next year.


a1 managed to put a fabulous concert, and it was such as fun filled evening. I've never been to concert like it, as they give the audience a few lessons so then they can join in; which also included a work out along the way; as well as a bit of Panto. I also really enjoyed the stripped back feel to it, as they was only a screen as well as Mark's keyboard/ digital piano and Christian's guitar; which proves that you don't need the fancy sets to put on a good show or in a1's case a fabulous, and a very long time coming show. We were treated to a1 trip down memory lane, as well as a sneak peak into some upcoming newness.


I also went to this concert on my own, and I ended up making quite a few new friends on the night. This is also something that's also never happened before while I've been out at a concert.


I would like to thank a1 for putting on such an amazing show, and it was certainly worth the 20 year wait. I will be back to see a1 again in the future.

1 comment:

  1. It's an almost the same orders of songs in their concert in Manila. I didn't see that you mentioned the song Living the dream which they sang after a short break of their performance here.

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