A few minutes after David Gray’s short Curlew charity appeal, David Gray himself and band casually walk on to the stage ready to give the Resorts World Arena a whole load of talent. He starts with an explanation of format of the show and the cheer for White Ladder lets us all know what we’re here for. As he starts to perform, his unique voice and talent is immediately apparent as he hits every note with ease. His toe-tapping music is impossible to stay still to and there is a gentle hum coming from the crowd as people sing along. As David swaps guitar between songs, he takes the time to readjust his suit claiming “the most important thing is the lining of my suit is right” winning a little giggle from the arena.
As we head into “Be Mine“, he lets us know that this is a singalong and a warm-up for the audience and it seems to be the ice breaker as the crowd starts to come around that little bit more. The first set of this event goes by uneventful as the simple production allows us to focus on the people who are on stage and their talent. “The One I Love” gets one of the loudest cheers of this half and the atmosphere is building for the White Ladder set as David tells us he’ll be back in 20 minutes.
This is where the night truly begins. The crowd goes absolutely wild for “Please Forgive Me” and it’s easy to see why; this 90’s track has stood the test of time along side other singles from the album.
‘I got half a mind, to scream out loud’ prompts a loud, girlish scream out of the audience and you can tell that David Gray is still in love with this album and he takes great pride and joy in performing it. As we head into Babylon, David’s little quip of ‘I think you might know this one too’ encourages another scream from this bunch of gig-goers. It’s predictable but these are two of the loudest songs of the evening so far though “My Oh My” divides the audience into sitters and standers. As he works his way through the album, you can tell most people are here for the last few songs of the album.
We all stand again for “This Years Love” and there is a sea of lightings filling the room and there is laughter filling the room as we get three attempts of the woah’s in the middle of the song. “This Years Love” takes over as the biggest cheer of the night but only for a few minutes as “Sail Away” is surprisingly loud and easily becomes the most popular song of the night.
We’re treated to an encore of 3 covers including the likes of “Tainted Love” by Gracie Jones/Soft Cell and two David Bowie songs in the forms of “Life On Mars” and “Oh! You Pretty Things“. These covers prove very popular with this slightly older audience and a reprise “Please Forgive Me” helps end this night on a high.
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