After two songs, he speaks – telling the audience that by the end of the night we’ll all be sweaty, but happy. As the lights come on, everyone is indeed sweaty, and happy doesn’t even begin to describe it.
It’s difficult to explain the Canadian crooner’s charm if you haven’t seen him live. From the opening moments, a packed-to-capacity O2 feels like a small lounge, and it seems the star is singing directly to you. You can tell the type of venues that the artist is used to playing, as he references the largest indoor arena in Ireland in the same way, calling it ‘intimate’. Quite.
Throughout the night, the 37-year-old charmer opens up to his crowd, making damn sure that very single member is firmly in the palm of his hand. Jokes about blowing his load early, impending fatherhood and his beautiful model wife all add to his ‘One of Us’ factor, and his fans adore him for it.
A woman in the front row bears a sign telling the star that this is her 100th Bublé show, and asks for a hug – or a restraining order. On seeing her, the singer dutifully jumps down to embrace her, and everyone around our seats agree that she really should have asked for the shift.
Bublé’s set opens with Fever, and for the rest of the night he flits between his original songs, big band standards and Motown classics. Interestingly, it’s his own tracks that claim the loudest screams, but in concert it suddenly becomes clear why this man’s cover stands out a mile from a million others.
The thirteen-piece band helps, of course, and my – are they wonderful. Each member gets a solo introduction in an early part of the concert, with baseball card like stats displayed on a screen for ‘Team Bublé’. Interestingly, many members of the band have been with the singer for eight to ten years, adding weight to his claim that they are his best buddies, and a ‘road family’.
Just in case we weren’t all swooning already, Bublé takes every opportunity to flatter his crowd and pay tribute to the Irish, dedicating one of his biggest hits to some of his biggest fans. “No place in the world has accepted me like this… It’s not like this anywhere else; this is above and beyond. I love you.”
The Beatles, The Jackson 5 and Daft Punk… yes, really… all have their place in the set list, and the man himself moves seamlessly between them, completely at home in front of the thousands.
His finale, not to give too much away, is in the simplest form you can get from a singer – no bells and whistles, and they’re not necessary anyway, as at this point everyone in the room has fallen in love. Bublé is a born showman, and he comes alive on the stage.
There are few current artists that audiences will pay €100 a ticket for. Why do they do so for Bublé? Well, to borrow a well-known tagline… Because he’s worth it.
