Jason Derulo, Arena Birmingham - review
Insanely good dance moves, incredible high-pitched notes and, of course, those abs – and that was just the first song.
A riot of cheers exploded in the city’s Arena Birmingham as star Jason Derulo brought his 2Sides world tour to life on Wednesday evening.
His infectious cheeky Cheshire grin and bare-chested routines, which saw sweat drizzling down his perfectly honed body for almost all of the set, undoubtedly made his female fans swoon all night.
Support act DJ Jae Murphy well and truly got the party started with his mash-up of crowd pleasers, and set the tone for the festival spirit which was to stay for the rest of the evening.
Opening with debut single Whatcha Say after an African desert-esque intro video, Derulo sent adorning revellers into a frenzy when he claimed Birmingham was ‘one of his favourite places on the planet’ and an ‘easy place to love’.
Tunes Wiggle and Trumpets soon followed before the star slipped into a lavish zebra-print coat, dubbed his ‘birthday jacket’ - which anyone else would have found difficult to pull off as well as he did.
Crowds of fans were then treated to unreleased track Make Up, followed by hits In My Head and Get Ugly. But it was a rendition of Secret Love Song - Derulo’s top 10 hit with Little Mix - which made onlookers really stop and take notice of a backing singer flaunting her incredible vocals.
Hysteria swept across the arena when a lucky woman was hand-picked to take the stage as the heartthrob belted out It Girl, in what was quite an endearing moment of the set.
A slice of nostalgia from the summer crept into the show when Derulo commanded all to tower their hands high for Colours, which was anthem of this year’s World Cup.
Popular hits Ridin’ Solo, Other Side and Talk Dirty unsurprisingly brought on a racket of screams before a fountain of confetti blasted from the stage as Derulo dropped Goodbye.
With a stunning entourage of dancers gracefully gliding into frisky moves, an unbelievable collection of catchy hits, and non-stop interludes of flawless routines, there’s no doubt this was show worth waiting for.
As he humbly took his final bow, DJ Jae Murphy dubbed Derulo the ‘new King of Pop’. I’m not sure any artist could claim that crown from Michael Jackson, but Derulo sure gave it a better shot than most.
