Live Review: The Corrs – 20th November 2024 – O2 Arena, London, UK
6 min read
Over the last decade or so, more and more acts have been finding new and creative ways to celebrate their careers and catalogues and expose their music to brand new audiences, while giving something back to their long-standing fans. Anniversary shows have become a staple for many artists in recent years as acts relive the success of notable career moments and The Corrs are the latest to dive back into nostalgic waters and combine album reissues and milestone live shows to shine a light on their remarkable career.
While the band enjoyed phenomenal success in the nineties and first few years of the noughties, between the release of Home in 2005 and the band’s 2015 White Light studio comeback, things were very quiet in the Corrs camp. With a follow up studio album Jupiter Calling arriving in 2017, the band’s live schedule was confined to a one off show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 2017 and a handful of very successful shows in the Southern Hemisphere, but earlier in the year the outfit returned to the forefront of the UK live scene with a well-received slot at BST Hyde Park, supporting US megastar Shania Twain before announcing the celebratory Talk On Corners tour which is currently making its way around Ireland and the UK. The tour also coincides with the release of each of the band’s records (with the exception of debut, Forgiven Not Forgotten, which saw it’s reissue last year as part of National Album Day) on limited edition colour vinyl.
As a long devoted Corrs fans who has followed the band intently, right from their very first single back in September of 1995, I was smiling ear to ear as I made my way to the O2 Arena on Wednesday night to see the band back on stage again, and for the final night of this very special and nostalgic tour.
Having seen the band perform a handful of times over the years including their last London performance at BST Hyde Park in July, I had an early glimpse of what to expect when it came to the set list for this tour as this had been teased during that performance – albeit in a more brief form to fit into the Shania Twain support schedule.
The expected Talk On Corners hits were out on proud display with personal favourite, Only When I Sleep opening the set as each member of the band took their positions at a little after 9pm and following a superb support performer by Australian Torn hit maker, Natalie Imbruglia.
From there we were treated to amazing performances of fellow Talk On Corners singles including I Never Loved You Anyway, What Can I Do and their highly acclaimed cover of Dreams which got the Fleetwood Mac stamp of approval when it was first released as a single by the band. A string of the albums unreleased gems also made the cut with ballads Closer and Don’t Say You Love Me striking an emotional cord as Andrea’s crisp vocals swept over the sold out O2 crowd, while fan favourite Queen of Hollywood showed off the frontwoman’s impeccable, pitch-perfect and very versatile vocals as she delivered the album gem complete with all the originals nostalgic ad-libs and vocal inflections and skipped around the stage in her tasseled black dress. From the Talk On Corners release it was So Young however that really had the fans at their most excited and bouncing along to one of the bands most commercial early signature hits.
Within the vocal hits, some of the outfits nods to traditional Irish compositions found their rightful nesting place with Sharon shining on violin during the Erin Shore opening for Forgiven Not Forgotten, while the band worked the crowd into a frenzy with their momentous and tight deliveries of Joy of Life and closing instrumental, Toss the Feathers which had the musical family unified on stage as they blew the metaphorical roof of the world famous O2 Arena.
One of the many wonderful elements of Wednesday’s show was song arrangement. The band kept their performance of each song true to the original studio recordings – from the melodies to the adlibs – each song was played in perfect, original form and added further nostalgia to an already nostalgically rich evening of golden classics from the iconic pop family.
The nights offering of Radio really felt like a pinnacle moment in the centre of the set – lifting the night into second gear as fan held their phones (and even an iPad on my right) to capture the moment.
Later recordings like White Night’s title track and Ellis Island – a song about immigration and the arrival of many Irish people to the famous island in the United States – sat nicely amongst the bands more Irish-drenched Home numbers like Spancill Hill and My Lagan Love, or the quirky Old Town which was most notably performed for the bands Unplugged release.
For the closing quarter of the night, the foursome took things up another notch with the likes of the bouncy So Young and debut power ballad, Runaway not just taking away the breath of the fans, but also the band as Andrea let the crowd deliver much of the latter while she crouched down with hand over mouth in awe of the level of adoration pouring back from her fans; at several points seeming quite emotional as her fans sang back the pop masterpiece.
Adding one of their most commercial and globally successful hits to the encore, Breathless had the floors of the venue shaking as everyone was up on their feet and dancing along to the pop earworm; Andrea’s vocals sounding as rich, powerful and unweathered as ever, before instrumental, Toss the Feathers closed what was easily one of the best performances we have seen in a long time and certainly the best Corrs performance we have been so fortunate to attend.
Even without the pop juggernaut that is Love To Love You Not finding a place within this tours set (a personal favourite of this reviewer), it was a night of pure pop perfection from a band that has been missed but clearly has many years still in them. Here’s to seeing them back on the road in the UK again very soon!
Setlist:
Only When I Sleep
Give Me a Reason
Erin Shore/Forgiven Not Forgotten
Summer Sunshine
What Can I Do
White Light
Closer
Don’t Say You Love Me
Little Wing (The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Joy of Life
Ellis Island
Spancill Hill
Old Town (Phil Lynott cover)
Radio
Queen of Hollywood
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac cover)
So Young
I Never Loved You Anyway
Runaway
Encore:
My Lagan Love ([traditional] cover)
Breathless
Toss the Feathers ([traditional] cover)
Related posts:
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
