James Blunt, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Monday January 21
James Blunt is like Marmite - people either love him or hate him.
Admitting you fall into the former category is seen by many so-called music aficionados as credibility suicide.
But posh poster boy Blunt's popularity continues to soar - his second album All the Lost Souls, released last September, topped the UK charts and his two dates this week at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall, as part of a nationwide tour, were a sell-out.
It is refreshing to see the 33-year-old singer/songwriter and musician hasn't dashed straight off to arenas to make a fast buck and is still happy to play smaller, more intimate venues.
Two years after his last visit to the town the former Sandhurst graduate, who served in Kosovo, clearly still has a loyal Wolverhampton following as the venue was packed to the rafters.
Against a backdrop of military and royal insignia, Blunt opened the show with a rousing rendition of Give Me Some Love which was accompanied by "nose cam" footage shown on a big screen which gave an unfortunate but amusing view up his hooter from a camera on his mike stand!
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The 90-minute set jam-packed with almost two dozen songs included most of the current album, which deals with topics as diverse as life, death and fame, plus loads of old favourites from the multi-million-selling Back to Bedlam.
Blunt is great at rousing the crowd - who ranged from teenagers to middle-aged couples - but can just as quickly bring down the tempo for tear-jerkers like No Bravery, I Really Want You and Shine On.
Same Mistake, Carry You Home and You're Beautiful got a great response from the crowd and a cover of Supertramp's Take a Look at My Girlfriend was a surprise hit.
Blunt clearly loves the buzz of a live show and he gave some stunned front row fans a hug when he spontaneously jumped into the pit.
The three-song encore concluded with floor-filler 1973 complete with giant disco ball and neon lighting. As ticker tape descended on the crowd Blunt took a photograph to capture the moment - must have been a good night.
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