NE-YO // BARROWLANDS, GLASGOW

RNB LEGEND 'NE-YO' BRINGS HIS GOOD MAN TOUR TO GLASGOW'S LEGENDARY BARROWLANDS

NE-YO PERFORMING AT GLASGOW'S BARROWLANDS - 14/09/2017
PICTURE BY: ALEXANDROS COSTA PHOTOGRAPHY

★★★★★

Well we certainly did get the chance to get “Closer” to American R&B star Ne-Yo when he brought his “Good Man” Tour here to Glasgow’s Barrowlands for the 2nd show of 8 U.K performance dates, and it comes to us just in time for his latest Album of the same name which will be released later this month. All I can say is Wow!! I’m so glad I was asked to review this concert as it turned out to be a brilliant and unforgettable buzz fulfilling night.

From the very moment the record producing singer, songwriter, actor and dancer Shaffer Chimere Smith stepped foot on the stage, with nothing other than his backing band and some clever use of laser lighting, the man of many more talents than I knew of before tonight, set about delivering the journey of Ne-Yo to an almost packed venue of fans ranging from their 20’s to late 40’s.

The show kicks off with a short greeting from Ne-Yo, introducing himself and welcoming us to sing along to the 1st song of the night “So Sick”, a mellow slow jam from 2006 album “Libra Scale” before swiftly moving right into an up-tempo back catalogue of well-known dance/R&B tracks from early on in his career, including “Miss Independent”, “She knows”, “Champagne life” and “One in A Million”. Already the atmosphere is booming and the crowd are mirroring Ne-Yo, who’s clearly having a great time on stage singing and dancing.

Neyo has penned songs for likes of Rihanna, Conor Maynard, Mario, and Beyoncé (naming just a few amongst an array of famous singers he has written for), and those mentioned here got a good shout out before Ne-Yo sang his own personal takes on the songs he wrote for them during a more laidback acoustic/piano driven set. Ne-Yo’s seductive, crooning style was food for our ears just after he paid homage to Beyoncé giving mention to her new-born twins and referring to her as his “homegirl” before ending the piano set with Irreplaceable, from Beyoncé’s 2006 Album “B,Day”.

A quick change sees Ne-Yo return to his well owned stage dressed sharp in white bottoms, black sequin blazer and hat, bringing the show to its latter half which was just brilliant!!  It was a high energy, get your party on, shake your booty, hit parade of the great favourites such as “Beautiful Monster”, “Closer”, and from the “Good Man” album “Another Love song” leading straight into the Encore featuring “Lets Go” and “Let me Love you”

What I loved about this show was that at no time from the beginning to the end did the energy from neither the crowd or Ne-Yo drop, the songs moved quickly, costume changes were almost instant with no long interludes spoiling the action. Interaction with his fans was good too, plenty of chat but without overdoing it, and at one point invited a couple of fans from the audience on stage with him for a dance. Ne-Yo's wife Crystal was somewhere in the crowd beside us watching the show too, Ne-Yo mentioned this during the show while talking about how happy they are to have welcomed their son Shaffer into world last march.

As for the sneak peek into his soon to be released album, “Good Man,” of the couple of tracks performed, seems it will be little bit of everything R&B, pop, soul and dance. What an excellent show and night. Ne-Yo certainly spotlighted all the attributes that made him a global pop star, and all that without his usual army of glamorous dancers, and dazzling light shows… just a stripped back, up close and personal party with Ne-Yo and a concert I won’t forget seen my friend Katiya and I were lucky enough to meet him and his wife Crystal in person at the end of the show … but that’s another story. All I will say is, he seems to be a “GOOD MAN”

NE-YO'S TOUR CONTINUES:

SEPTEMBER 16 - ARENA MK - MILTON KEYNES, UK
SEPTEMBER 20 - O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON - LONDON, UK
SEPTEMBER 21 - COLSTON HALL - BRISTOL, UK
SEPTEMBER 22 - INTERNATIONAL CENTRE - BOURNEMOUTH, UK
SEPTEMBER 23 - O2 ACADEMY - BIRMINGHAM, UK

REVIEW BY: PAULINE YOUNG
PHOTOS BY: ALEXANDROS COSTA PHOTOGRAPHY

Eclite Visuals & Media