Radio 1's Big Weekend in Hull: Tributes, Tunes and comebacks galore!

This weekend just gone (27th-28th May), Radio 1 brought its annual festival to Hull, to coincide with Hull being 2017's city of culture. Spread over two days, with acts performing on three stages, the main stage, the Where it Begins stage (formerly the In New Music We Trust stage) and the BBC Introducing stage, there was bound to be someone for everyone to enjoy. so...what were the highlights?

Tunes

For many of the acts, it was a chance to perform all their tunes that the fans know and love. However, it was also a chance for these acts to preview new songs that they may not have performed live before. One example that springs to mind is Rita Ora. Not only did she perform some of her biggest hits, such as Hot Right Now, Poison and Black Widow, she also performed new songs for the first time, such as her new song, Your Song (following the premiere of the song at the Cannes Festival) and a brand new song that had never been heard before, Girls, a collaboration with Charli XCX and newcomer, Raye.

In fact, there were so many acts performing over the weekend that I bet that it would be hard for anyone to pick their favourite song that they partied to. I myself would struggle if anyone asked me what was my favourite song out of all the acts that I heard this weekend. Was it Zara Larsson with the brilliant Lush Life? Or maybe Blossoms with At Most a Kiss? Or Bastille with Send Them Off? So many choices! Also, a special shout out to Shawn Mendes, as the Big Weekend was his first ever UK festival appearance. Among the songs that he performed was his massive hit, Treat You Better:



Comebacks

This weekend saw so many comebacks from some of the biggest musical artists. Along with Rita Ora, who I've already mentioned, there were comebacks from Kasabian, who have recently released their fifth studio album, For Crying Out Loud, Royal Blood who are set to release their new album, How Did We Get So Dark? and the sultry songstress herself, who flew out to the UK especially for the Big Weekend Festival, Lana Del Rey.  All these acts performed their classic tracks as well as brand new tracks.

Of course, these guys weren't the only comebacks. The coveted headline slot went to Katy Perry who made a spectacular comeback herself. Not only did she sing her classic hits, such as Firework and California Gurls, she also had the chance to perform her new songs, Chained to the Rhythm and Bon Appetite. Welcome back Katy!



Tributes

The thing that stood out for me was the many tributes from the artists, and the festival itself o the victims of the horrific Manchester attack that happened on the Monday before the festival. Many of the acts dedicated songs to the victims and Manchester itself, such as Katy Perry, who dedicated Part of Me, Kings of Leon, who dedicated Use Somebody, and Zara Larsson, who dedicated her Clean Bandit collaboration Symphony. There was also many heartfelt speeches given, by acts such as James Arthur and Emeli Sande, with my favourite speech coming from Zara Larsson, who said this:

"Music itself, it doesn't have a religion, doesn't have a country, or an ethnicity. It's something that we do and it unites us all."

However, the ultimate tribute came in the form of a minute's silence on both days to reflect on the awful events and to remember the victims. I thought this was the perfect way to reflect and remember victims of this tragedy.

Overall, I thought the line up was great and, yes the weather was a bit questionable, but everyone had a great time. Thank you Radio 1 for putting on this fantastic festival.
Here's to next year's festival!

Em
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REVIEW: Rita Ora- Your Song

Single artwork for Your Song. 

Hi guys!
Good news everyone...Rita Ora is back! Yep...after two years away from music, whilst pursuing other projects, including being a judge on The Voice UK and The X Factor, she is back with a brand new single, Your Song, which has been released today (26/05/2017).

Was it worth the wait? Yes...I think it was. Written by Ed Sheeran no less, it's got a nice catchy beat which would not sound out of place at a holiday bar. In fact, at the time of writing, the weather is beautiful so this song sounds perfect. In addition, you can tell it was written by Ed, as the music does sound slightly like the start of Shape of You. However, I believe there is nothing wrong with this (I may be a bit biased because I also like this song...).

So...what's next for Ms Ora? Well...she is performing this song live for the first time during her slot at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Hull and, seeing as she is on the line up for Glastonbury, she is likely to perform it there as well. As for the song? Well, I believe it is going to quickly become a classic Rita Ora pop jam and 2017's song of the summer.

Welcome back Rita Ora. We've missed you!


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Live Review: Take That Wonderland Live at the Genting arena 05/05/2017

I had previously seen Take That 3 times and with their shows getting bigger and better, I was wondering how they were going to top their last tour, which was the III tour in 2015. They answered that for me...they were going to try something they had never done...they were going to perform in the round (a stage in the centre of the arena).

Despite never performing in the round before, Take That managed to accomplish what they set out to do, which was to perform a show. And what a show it was. Technically, it could be seen as the 25th anniversary tour, seeing as their debut album was released 25 years ago this year. Therefore, it was a nice touch that as well as performing songs that fans know and love, such as Patience and the iconic anthem, Never Forget, they also added album tracks from previous studio albums, such as Beautiful World from...err...Beautiful World (2006), Lovelife from III (2014) and Underground Machine from Progress (2011). They also had nods to Robbie Williams' time in the band, from using graphics that resembled the Progress album artwork to a cast member dressed in a rabbit costume that seemed very familiar, due to it resembling Robbie's You Know Me rabbit costume.

As well as old classics, fans also got to experience new tracks from Wonderland live in concert for the first time, from the singles Giants, Cry and New Day, to album tracks, such as Superstar, Hope and It's All For You.  Meanwhile, whenever I anticipate a Take That concert, I always think, "Will they be able to top the last one?" Last time they had an underwater scene, complete with jelly fish hanging from the ceiling. The time before that, they had a massive robot (and Robbie Williams rejoining). So, was I worried? Well...to be honest...it's Take That, of course each show gets better and better. For example, during It's All For You, they had some sort of carousel arrangement, with various things, such as a swan, acrobats and a bed, moving around in a circle. They also had screens that moved up and down and displayed graphics that would change for each song (for Cry, the graphics were bubbles, for Beautiful World, the graphics were planets etc.)

Overall, Take That did not disappoint. Despite the fact that they are considered a man band, they still have fun filled energy that most man bands could only dream of. With catchy songs, spectacular staging and colourful costumes, it really felt that you were being transported to Wonderland.

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