The Nation's Favourite Tenor, Alfie Boe, has just finished a critically acclaimed arena tour around the UK. Hot on the heels of the release of his latest album Serenata, a collection of romantic Italian songs, his fifth consecutive top twenty success, the tour showcased material from Boe's entire recording career.
The show started with material from his previous Italian album, La Passione, leading seamlessly into the more authentic sound of Serenata before a nod to Boe's operatic roots with Recondita Armonia and Nessun Dorma. All this despite a throat infection in the second half of the tour that forced the postponement of the Brighton date.
Many Alfie Boe fans became fans through his involvement in the 25th anniversary concert of LesMiserables and the musical theatre section of the show was one of the highlights of a show packed full of highlights. Come What May,Wheels of a Dream and Being Alive paved the way for Bring Him Home and nowhere was the emotion and power of this song more evident than at London's O2 arena. Headlining at this arena is a very special moment in anyone's career, but for Boe, this was an especially significant moment. As he acknowledged on stage, the last time he set foot on that stage was as Jean ValJean which of course turned out to be a career changing role. Although Bring Him Home is by far and away Boe's most famous song, the audience was completely bowled over.
During the course of this tour, the news came that Boe will be starring as Jimmy in Pete Townshend's classic reworking of the 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia. This wasn't a complete surprise as news of the recording had been leaked on Twitter a few weeks previously! However, what this did mean was a preview of two songs from the show: I'm One and Love Reign O'er Me, first heard on Weekend Wogan in November. The show, to be held at the Royal Albert Hall on 5 July 2015 is now sold out so audiences on this tour were doubly lucky to hear Boe's powerful voice soar to its highest range. These two songs, coming right at the end of the encore provided some of the more dancier moment, along with Trust, Keep Me In Your Heart and Glory Glory Hallelujah from the 2013 Trust album. Most people in the audiences didn't need telling twice to get on their feet and dance. The clip shows the awesome musicianship of the musical director Murray Gould and guitarist Matt White:
Overall, this tour was a classy affair, from the set design, the look of the musicians, the use of the strings, the set list and the use of the big screens to complement the running order. Boe's legions of fans have been unanimous in their praise and almost as unanimous in their desire to see more live performances - several appearances for 2015 have already been confirmed so not long to wait.
This article was taken from reviews on www.thoughtsofjustafan.com.