JLS: I went to 'EVERYBODY SAY JLS: The Hits Tour', this is what I thought and where else they played

JLS, made up of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes and JB Gill, are currently on a national tour called 'EVERYBODY SAY JLS: The Hits Tour'.

I attended their show at the Liverpool M&S Bank Arena on Thursday, October 26 and can fill you in on what I thought...

What were the merch options like?

The variety of merchandise on offer was as expected, there were numerous styles of t-shirts and hoodies, a beanie, a mug, a canvas bag and posters.

The prices were also probably as expected in this current climate – e.g. £40 t-shirt, hoodie £65, £15 mug – but certainly higher than when I last went to a JLS concert in 2010!

What were the support acts like?

Rushing from work, we unfortunately missed the first support act, an American singer-songwriter called Shab, who had a set between 7:05pm and 7:30pm.

The second support act at 7:40pm however was Tinchy Stryder much to the excitement of all in attendance, with the crowd eager to relive their youth with some noughties bangers.

During his thirty minute set, Tinchy kept the energy high – particuraly with the help of his hype man – as he played all his classics, including the number 1 singles ‘Never Leave You’ and ‘Number 1’.

It was definitely the right warm up for a main act that was also set to take its audience on a throwback journey.

What was the JLS staging like?

The staging throughout was very minimalist, with the only people on stage for the 90 minute set being Aston, Marvin, Oritsé and JB.

This worked perfectly as it meant our attention was fully on the four boys we had come to see – and they all had enough stage presence to fill the empty space!

JLS first came out on stage wearing slick white and black outfits, matching the monochrome lighting around the stage.

For the final songs, the lighting switched to the JLS traditional colours, coordinating with the many audience members who had come dressed in the colours of the favourite member (blue being Aston, green Marvin, red Oritsé and yellow JB).

What was the setlist like?

I am not a huge JLS fan I must admit, I attended the concert more for my friend who is, however I knew almost all of the songs they played which was great.

For the songs I did not know, the band had still picked tracks that would get people dancing or feeling emotional, plus they themselves danced and got the audience involved enough throughout for me to stay thoroughly entertained.

There was also an unusual 15 minute section where Marvin and Aston competed to see who could DJ mix the best songs whilst JB and Oritsé sung.

Although they started the competition with some JLS tracks, they moved on to singing songs by other artists such as ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber and ‘No Scrubs’ by TLC.

I found this slightly stange for a band with five albums but did not complain as myself and everyone around us certainly enjoying belting out the chart topping hits.

*Spoiler* The full set list is as follows: Eyes Wide Shut, Hottest Girl in the World, Day One / Finesse, Do You Feel What I Feel, Eternal Love. One Shot, So Many Girls, Only Making Love, I Know What She Likes, Close to You, Only Tonight, Better for You, The Club Is Alive, DJ Set Megamix, She Makes Me Wanna, Beat Again, Love You More, Everybody in Love

How well did JLS perform?

Honestly, they performed just as well as they did in their heydey.

All four of their vocals were still impressive and despite being four dads, there was no dad dancing in sight. The choreography was energetic and sexy, and Aston even pulled out a few of his famous backflips!

Between their sets, all four had great banter with the crowd, and there was even a video montage at the end where they were able to get the audience emotional as Oritsé explained the history of JLS.

Where else are JLS performing?

This is the full tour list:

October 20 - 3Arena - Dublin

October 21 - BELFAST SSE Arena

October 23 - NOTTINGHAM Motorpoint Arena

October 24 - BOURNEMOUTH Bournemouth Int’nl Centre

October 26 - LIVERPOOL M&S Bank Arena

October 27 - BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena

October 28 - BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena

October 30 - CARDIFF Cardiff International Arena

October 31 - CARDIFF Cardiff International Arena

November 02 - MANCHESTER AO Arena

November 03 - GLASGOW OVO Hydro

November 04 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Utilita Arena

November 06 - BRIGHTON Centre

November 07 - LEEDS first direct Arena

November 09 - LONDON O2

November 10 - LONDON O2

November 11 - SHEFFIELD Utilita Arena