Review: Olly Murs, LG Arena, Birmingham

Screams deafened Birmingham's LG Arena as the West Midlands welcomed today's heart-throb Olly Murs to the stage on the first big stop of his tour of the United Kingdom.

The 28-year-old former semi-professional footballer and recruitment consultant certainly strikes a chord with the teenage fan base and he showed there's more to his repertoire than dance moves.

The former X-Factor runner-up, 28, transformed the LG into a sea of light after calling for the flash on everyone who had a camera phone to be used.

His lively offering came hot on the heels of build-up attractions 'Tich' – no stranger to opening big shows – and chief support act 'the Loveable Rogues.'

Murs clearly has offered a leg up to the ex-Britain's Got Talent contestants as a former X-Factor runner-up himself and the headline act proved how reality television can sometime dig up a gem.

Ask the Essex Boy himself if the thought he would be coming out to a near sell-out LG crowd four years later at the top of a specially-erected staircase and stage with a full and highly-capable band.

Opening song 'Army Of Two' literally came out this week and is rapidly on a rise though the charts, performed on a flashy illuminated stage with musicians dug into pockets around the stair case.

They looked like dead ringers for a blues band as they performed his second No 1 hit 'Dance With Me Tonight,' in what got the crowd's arms waving wildly for the first time.

After that, Mr Murs was everywhere, up and down 'the stairway to heaven' – the retractable roof rack that comes down from the ceiling that has been a feature of many an LG show.

That allowed the man in question to abandon the stage and head to a podium in the middle of the arena to get the balcony audience – most of whom didn't expect to be so close – more involved.

A selection of carefully-placed trap doors allowed him to appear and re-appear at will but he was back on the main stage to finish up with the big numbers.

First came a medley of classics that really pleased the parents, most of whom had probably been dragged kicking and screaming to the gig by their children.

Reworks of 'Runaround Sue' by Dion, House of Pain's 'Jump Around' and a straight cover of 'A Town Called Malice' by the Jam, along with Beyonce's 'Crazy In Love,' were a deviation from the norm.

'My Heart Skips A Beat' was supposed to be the final number and gave him his first chart-topper in 2011, no wonder it holds a special place in the pecking order.

But that was, of course, leading up to the encore that left us with last year's third No 1 'Troublemaker' – Flo Rida was with us in soul - and kept a nigh-on capacity attendance on its feet.

"I am not just saying this, but this is the best gig on this tour by a mile" reflected Olly midway. The biggest venues in the country will struggle to match last night for enthusiasm.

By Craig Birch