Time for my first gig of the year and it couldn't have started better than this weekend's Yungblud show at the O2 Arena!
I've been a proud member of the 'Black Hearts Club' since the start of 2020 and I've mostly seen him in smaller venues before (You can read my blogs of his Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Arena and the Chalk Brighton double show) so the O2 was a massive step up!
The show was in support of last year's Idols album which I absolutely adored and was my favourite album of last year (reviewed in my 2025 In Music blog).
Before the show I had a relaxing wander around Covent Garden in the sunshine and made a stop to shop for shiny things!
My outfit for the show, no I haven't grown out of painting artist's logos on my face 😏
I was seated for the show so although I was quite far back I had a good view of the stage without queuing for hours beforehand. I'm far too old for that now 😂
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| The stage set up |
Before the show started we got a blast of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' which set the 'Idols' theme up perfectly.
He opened with my favourite song from the album 'Hello Heaven Hello'
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Next up was The Funeral which is my other favourite Yungblud song. With my two songs opening back to back I was already having an awesome time and the night just got better and better.
I took a lot of photos in black and white as they came out clearer from being so far back.
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We had a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's Changes which is the performance that sent him into the stratosphere at last summer's Back To The Beginning tribute song.
We had a throwback to 2019 with the addition of Loner to the set.
The absolute highlight of my evening was the surprise addition of 'War' to the set. My autistic self had looked to see what the setlist was from the previous shows and I was a wee bit disappointed when I saw he hadn't been playing it. When the opening guitar riff started I had tears in my eyes as it's such a beautiful song. I didn't manage to get a video due to screaming along at the top of my lungs (my apologies to the nice couple sat next to me) but you can listen to it on YouTube.
The two encore songs were the biggest hit of the Idols album 'Zombie' & the brand new song 'Suburban Requiem' from the 'Idols 2' album (wait until my end of year music blog to see if it matches it's predecessor as album of the year!).
Zombie
Yungblud left the stage to the message "Don't forget to live" which says it all. He's always been very open about his own mental health struggles and ADHD, he goes out of his way to be inclusive of everyone regardless of their gender identity, sexuality, background etc etc. The most important thing is being kind to each other. It was a reminder that no matter who you are you deserve to be happy.
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| And yes I do feel a new tattoo coming on |
I came out of the show with no voice and on a massive high and I still haven't come down yet. It was such a fantastic gig with his trademark energy and you could feel his utter joy at being able to play such a huge venue. I really hope it's not too long until he tours again. Especially with the rumours that a new album is pretty much already written ......
Next month I'm off to Leeds to see my other favourite artist Delilah Bon, who coincidentally went to his Leeds show a few nights before the O2 show. Now that would be my dream collaboration ......
Love Jen
XxxX
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