JLS & SPECIAL GUEST ‘LEMAR’ AT SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE

★★★★☆ (4/5)

JLS PERFORMING AT SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE
PHOTOCREDIT: LAURA TOOMER

Do you want salt and vinegar with that? Well, you can’t go to the seaside and not have fish and chips. In the north of England, it’s the law! Arriving in Scarborough you’d be forgiven for thinking it was January not July, the temperature gauge read 11 degrees and the biting North Sea wind was raising serious question marks of my choice of attire for the evening.

So, Scarborough then, home of the Seadogs, final resting place of Anne Bronte and location of the world-famous Tunny Club where the likes of John Wayne (yes The Duke himself) could be found fishing for Bluefin Tuna in the bay.

Tonight, though it was big fish of the pop world that were attracting visitors to this Victorian Seaside resort with JLS taking to the stage at the impressive Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

First up though we had Lemar, another pop heavyweight from the early naughties tasked with the job of warming up the excitable crowd on this chilly Thursday night.

Opening up with hits from his double platinum debut album Dedicated, the temperature was raised quickly with Dance (With U) and 50/50 greeted with screams of approval from the packed crowd. Lemar has kept himself busy, currently hosting a show on Magic radio as well as appearing alongside Beverley Knight and Alexandra Burke in the West End production of Sister Act. He was also on the most recent series of The Masked Singer, making it all the way to the final before being unveiled as ‘Cricket’ and the next part of his set took us on that journey.

Covers of Harry Styles, As It Was and Vanessa Carltons A thousand Miles were greeted with huge cheers as Lemar reprised his antenna wearing alter-ego (minus costume of course). Then it was onto the new stuff with Dust from his new album accompanied by singalongs and much arm waving.

In truth, with a back catalogue of hits spanning 5 studio albums, with 3 going either platinum or double platinum, Lemar could have kept the crowd at fever pitch for the whole evening, but with time running short it was left to monster hit, If There’s Any Justice to bring a strong opening set to a close, although there was of course time for an impromptu rendition of It’s Coming Home in recognition of the upcoming euros final to seal the deal on a cracking start to the night.

After a brief interlude, allowing us to recharge our glasses it was time for the main event.

As the lights dimmed, temperatures soared as a thousand phones were raised into air that was filled with screams of anticipation as images of the band flashed across the giant screen.

The band energetically took to the stage and launched into opening number, Eyes Wide Shut hysteria took over and the noise was, frankly deafening. The tone was definitely set for what was to follow.

What followed was an electrifying set of energy colour and noise, oh so much noise. Its hard to really get across the fervour of the watching crowd who lapped up every song, every note and every minute of this powerful show.

Whether it was engaging and entertaining interactions with the crowd, dance moves that would have tested the dexterity of men half their age or solo vocal performances that were pitch perfect this was entertainment at its finest from a group who have honed their craft skilfully over many years.

To be honest, its easy sometimes to be a bit sniffy about ‘boy bands’ and yes there was a lot of gesticulating, arm waving and crotch grabbing. But the whole thing was done with such a level of energy, skill and talent that the levels did not drop below stratospheric for the whole show.

There were moments of calm, a beautiful rendition of Proud accompanied by a sea of torchlights in a rare moment of serenity, but by no means less intensity.

There were moments of humour, the guns used to fire T shirts into the crowd, going more with a plop than a bang and barely reaching the front row causing merriment amongst both crown and band members. With shooting like that, Rooster Cogburn will not be unduly concerned.

There were also moments of genuine warmth, Aston taking a banner from the crowd inviting him to reveal the gender of an impending birth, so congratulations to Jasmine on your forthcoming baby boys arrival.

We were participants in a very entertaining DJ battle in the middle of the set, which may have been neatly installed to give the boys a rest but by no means saw a drop in energy or enthusiasm as banger after banger kept the crowd screaming for more culminating in a 5 thousand voice strong Macarena!

When the evening finally drew a close, everyone in attendance can reflect on a thoroughly enjoyable show. The encore giving one last chance to become fully intoxicated by the dazzling performance.

Drifting away with Everybody in Love ringing in our ears and turning back into that icy North Sea blast coming in off the sea seemed much less chilly than it had been a few hours earlier.

A great night, a terrific show and some amazing memories to take away for those who were there.