The Moon Landing Tour

James Blunt and Lacey

The Capital FM Arena, Nottingham

November 22nd, 2014

Regular visitors to this blog will know that I am a big fan of Nottingham band Lacey, so when they announced that they had been chosen to support James Blunt for the Nottingham date of the UK leg of his World Tour we had to go..... no matter what the cost.

Tonight's show was Lacey's first ever arena show and even though they are more used to playing smaller venues they had no problem fitting themselves and their sound to the size of the arena.

Lacey's usual line up is Graham Turner, Joshua Lewin, David Pearson and Peter Maksymiw, however tonight they have also been joined by Pete Mugleston, who is a former member of the band and is supporting with backing vocals and guitar.

Starting their set with 'Burning Out' from their EP 'Outlaws', Lacey got the show off to a great start and immediately grabbed the audience's attention. 

The rest of their set consisted of 'Change the Story' and 'Find A Way', which are songs from their upcoming album 'Under The Brightest Lights', which is set for general release in the new year following a successful pledgemusic campaign. 

 'Change the Story' is an upbeat song which got some of the audience dancing in their seats, whereas 'Find A Way' is a big sounding anthem which fit into the arena setting perfectly.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjRaAPz3JAQ )

Half way through the set they slowed things down a little when Graham took to the stage alone to perform 'Wait Till Tomorrow'.  This song is also featured on the forthcoming album and is a pure ballad which really showcases the range and strength of Graham's voice.   Having followed Lacey for quite a while now I knew that Graham had a great voice but hearing him sing a purely acoustic song with just the one guitar gave me goose bumps from the opening note right through to the last.  (Check it out on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHKouBACaUg )

Next on the set list was 'Contender', a song which features on both the 'Outlaws' EP and the 'Under The Brightest Lights' album.  It is also the song  which included the lyric that the album took its title from.  Contender is another powerful ballad which is sung from the heart and really allows you to become engrossed in the music.

Finishing with 'Tonight', which Lacey have just recorded as a single at the Steel City Studios, they  finished their set in style and left the stage to rapturous applause, proving to everyone that they have everything it takes to make their mark on the world.

Although this is the most I have ever paid for a ticket to see Lacey they have proved that they are worth every penny.  This may have been their first arena show but something tells me that it definitely won't be their last one!

I will be honest and admit that I only bought the ticket to see Lacey, as although I didn't mind James Blunt's music when I have heard it played on the radio I have never been an avid fan, however I have to admit that  I enjoyed his set.

Starting the night with 'Face the Sun' James Blunt launched into his epic set which lasted for around an hour and three quarters.

In keeping with the moon landing theme Blunt and his band were kitted out in space style jumpsuits, which led him to quip that they had come as astronauts and not the Ghostbusters!

There were a lot of James' songs that I had never heard before as I had only ever heard his songs on the radio.  However, songs in his set that I did recognise were 'Wisemen', 'High', 'Carry You Home', 'Goodbye My Lover'  and 'You're Beautiful'.

I also found that I really enjoyed songs called 'Smoke Signals', 'Bonfire Heart' and 'When I Find Love Again'.

Between songs James spent time talking to the audience which allowed his personality to show through.  He seemed to have quite a dry sense of humour and he made quite a few digs at his own expense regarding his height and his 'miserable songs'.

Although the popular songs seem to be quite downbeat not all of the songs that they played were miserable or down beat.  There were quite a few upbeat songs and they also treated us to a cover version of Slade's 'Coz I luv you', which had the already up and dancing crowd partying even more. 

Blunt sent the crowd into a frenzy when he leapt off the stage and ran through the crowd around the arena high fiving everyone he encountered.  He also attempted something that I have seen many bands do before, where they get the crowd to crouch down and all jump up in unison, however was not as effective as the show was an all seated event and jumping up from sitting on a chair did not really have the same effect.

One effect he did manage was to get the whole audience to turn in the torch app on their mobile phones and then asking the lighting techs to turn off the house lights effectively creating a starry sky for his rendition of 'Satellites', which looked absolutely stunning.

The show was ended by the brilliant number '1973' and a virtual firework display on the large screen at the back of the stage that also featured photographs of the crowds from various shows of the tour. 

It was obvious that a lot of money had been invested into this tour as the laser light show was remarkable and the projections on the screen at the back really fitted the theme and mood of the show. 

Although I went to the show solely to see Lacey I really did enjoy James Blunt and would go see him again.  Both Lacey and James Blunt gave us a cracking show last night and although we usually begrudge paying arena prices I do think that it was worth every penny.