Review: X-Factor Live ***

At Sheffield Arena

Who won last year's X Factor television show? No, well you wouldn't have been alone for the first two hours of the live stage version which rolled into Sheffield Arena.

A packed crowd – mainly of mothers and daughters leaving this thirtysomething feeling like a bloke at a WI meeting – waited for over two hours once the show kicked off to see Joe McElderry make his grand entrance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It all started well with Black Eyed Peas' I Got a Feeling, launching a group rendition before the solos. Welsh teenager Lloyd Daniels was first up. The young girls screamed his name, but he looked so ill at ease.

In contrast, Jamie Archer played the crowd like the consummate professional, a terrific version of Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire. Ditto Danyl Johnson and Olly Murs. Still no sign of the winner and after a half-hour break so mothers could part with some hard-earned cash, the waiting continued. The show's two girls, rock chick Lucy Jones and Stacey Solomon, shined and after the ridiculous Jedward, it was finally time for Joe's big moment. Performing for the last 20 minutes, his solo spot was capped off with his single The Climb.

For all the relentless commercialism, as the lights go up it's impossible not to be transported back to my school days as 10,000 satisfied youngsters head for the exit doors.