Gig Review: Joe McElderry - St James' Church, Piccadilly ✭✭✭

Joe McElderry

Thursday 20th Sept: A lovely setting in the heart of London awaited us for Joe McElderry, and the launch of his fourth album Here's What I Believe.

If you have never heard of Joe before, let me enlighten you. He won the sixth series of The X Factor back in 2009, mentored by Cheryl Cole, and his first single The Climb reached number one in the charts. He was signed to Simon Cowell's Syco label, and last year parted ways and is now on Decca Records.

Today with his fourth album release, Joe has an army of loyal fans, and they were in for a treat with this album launch. Not only did Joe sing tracks from the new album, he also did some old hits too. Backed by his live band including a string quartet, Joe's vocals were very impressive, he sounds stronger than the days of The X Factor.

The new album Here's What I Believe has a mixture of content on it, both original and covers. Covers include Somethings Gotten Hold Of My Heart, Skyscraper, When I Need You, and even Love Of My Life by Queen! For me, the original material doesn't quite hit the mark, nothing really stands out and sticks in my head, it's just personal preference like all reviews are, and it was all ballads and mid tempo stuff. Easy to listen to, but nothing there to give it that 'ooompf'. I did like The Climb though, his first hit from the X Factor days which he sang tonight at the end of the show.

But, the fans and audience were loving it. Yes his voice is exceptional, yes he knows how to entertain, but I think better writing is needed on future albums to give him that number one slot he actually deserves.

3 stars out of 5 ✭✭✭