One of the first times I ever watched Blossoms live was when they supported Courteeners during the band’s impressive seven-night stint at Manchester’s O2 Apollo in 2015. Now, seven years on, Stockport’s finest are headlining the 3,500 capacity venue for four consecutive nights.
Since those support slots, a lot have changed for Blossoms. Not only have the five-piece released four top five albums since then - including three number ones - but their style, both musically and in the fashion stakes has transformed.
When the band were performing psychedelia-tinged songs in all black, it may have been hard to imagine frontman Tom Ogden slinking around the stage in a silky golden blouse, flares and heeled boots, performing uptempo and delightful disco-inspired tracks, but that is testament to the incredibly impressive evolution of Blossoms over the years.
READ MORE : Blossoms at O2 Apollo Manchester - stage times, support, setlist and how to get there
After ‘Hello’ by Oasis plays them to the stage, they dive straight into first album banger ‘At Most a Kiss’. The song has traditionally been used in the encore but the decision to bring it to the top of the setlist is an inspired one.
“Hello Manchester, we’re Blossoms from Stockport,” Tom said to massive cheers before following up with a second debut album song in ‘Honey Sweet’ and the superb ‘Oh No (I Think I'm in Love)’ from third album ‘Foolish Loving Spaces’. After this, the lights go down and the band theatrically freeze in their places for what feels like forever, before Tom finally moves and asks: “How you feeling everybody?”
It’s really refreshing to see a successful band not take themselves too seriously and anyone who has listened to their podcast will know they’re real mates with a great sense of humour and camaraderie, so it’s great to see them genuinely seeming to enjoy themselves on stage rather than going through the motions, as would probably be easy to do at the end of a year packed with gigs and festival appearances.
You can tell that a lot of thought has gone into making their live performances more polished as well, with funky segues between certain songs. The addition of percussionists Collette Williams and John Simm, as well as extra guitarist Ryan Ellis has also been key in taking the already tight band’s live performances to the next level.
Despite being a tour for their most recent album ‘Ribbon Around the Bomb’, it is not until five songs in that they play a song from the record - ‘Ode to NYC’ is prefaced with a funny story about how Tom wrote the song for Netflix before the streaming giants ‘f****d them off’. That’s followed by a second song off their fourth album, with thousands singing along to the ‘ooh-la-la, Juliet’ refrain of ‘The Sulking Poet’.
Second album ‘Cool Like You’ gets its first outing of the night with ‘How Long Will This Last?’ and it doesn’t let up for the next few songs with ‘Getaway’, ‘Blown Rose’, ‘I Can’t Stand It’ and ‘If You Think This is Real Life’ all going down tremendously well. Monster Bee Gees-inspired track ‘Care For’ follows with Collette and bassist Charlie Salt joining Tom for a stunning acapella intro as a spotlight beams down upon them.
The staging is fantastic as well and actually looks quite space-aged with lights dotted along the top of the stage, the bottom of a hexagonal-shaped platform, and as an elevated platform that allows synth-player Myles Kellock and drummer Joe Donavan to be seen by the whole crowd and not just hidden at the back like can often be the case. Tom is for the most part flanked by Charlie and lead guitarist Joshua Dewhurst, with Ryan, John and Collette further backed, however the frontman does occasionally hop behind the keyboard.
His versatility is on show throughout the gig whether it’s dancing around stage as he twirls the cord of his microphone, picking up a guitar or even playing the harmonica. The 29-year-old oozes charm and it may be easy to draw comparisons with great frontmen such as Jarvis Cocker but to compare him to anyone does him a disservice as he really has become a must-see performer himself.
‘Care For’ is followed up by ‘Your Girlfriend’, which Tom aptly describes as a “smash hit” - one he admits he wrote after reading a blog online. The crowd are putty in the Stopfordian’s hands at this point so when he asks “do you mind if we play a new song,” there is a rapturous seal of approval. “Thank f*** for that,” he quips, before getting into the groovy ‘Big Word’, which is already greeted with an extremely positive crowd reaction and is likely to be a favourite once released.
After ‘My Swimming Brain’ gets everyone singing along again, all of the band leave apart from Tom, who picks up an acoustic guitar. Fourth album cut ‘The Writer’ is captivating but it's oldie ‘My Favourite Room’ that really gets everyone trying to match Tom’s high notes. As is now traditional, he follows it up with the triple threat of ‘You’re Gorgeous” by Babybird, “Half the World Away” by Oasis, and “Last Christmas” by Wham, which the crowd are still singing as Tom leaves the stage and returns for the encore with the rest of the band.
Anyone who still in their seat on the balcony jumps up to their feet to have a boogie to ‘There's a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)’ and then the brand brought out a special guest.
Blossoms fans in London were spoiled last weekend with Mel C, Rick Astley and Miles Kane all joining them on stage at various points on Saturday night (December 3). With it being mid-week and not the capital, it was unlikely to see that again but Tom introduced Brooke Combe to the stage after her powerful support slot earlier in the night.
The soulful Scot duetted with Tom on a fun cover of Human League classic ‘Don’t You Want Me’, before set closer ’Charlemagne’ blew the roof off the Apollo.
Anyone who has tickets for the next three nights is in for an absolute treat - a band who are masters of their crafts and one of the best put-together life shows I've seen this year. Just make sure you’re ready to party.
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