Turning twenty five is a milestone worth celebrating, and when it came to the twenty-fifth birthday of John and Edward Grimes, aka Jedward this past Sunday, 16 October, they did it in style, by performing a three hour long concert at London’s O2 Academy, Islington.
Most people would be happy to have a party with their friends and family, but Jedward aren’t most people, and the Dublin duo preceded their concert with a three hour meet and greet, where they met with fans, many of whom have known the pair for the better part of their seven year career. The entire day took on a party atmosphere, and with fans queuing for the meet and greet, which commenced at 2.30, from as early as 7 that morning. The weather was not favourable, but thankfully the O2 is under shelter, with plenty of shops and food places nearby.
Starting at 6.30, the twins rocked their way through 30 songs, including those from their three album back catalogue, and their latest self-penned releases, including the debut of their brand new single, ‘Hologram’, the video for which was only released the previous evening. ‘Hologram’, a deeply emotional song about ending and moving on from a relationship and subsequent recovery from a broken heart, is sung to a belter of a dance tune which had the capacity crowd jumping and singing along.
In addition to these, the duo gave the fans a bit of a breather with an acoustic set of covers including ‘Cold Water’, ‘Dancing On My Own’, ‘Beautiful Soul’, and Niall Horan’s new track, ‘This Town’. At one point Edward left the stage and joined the audience in order to listen to John, a talented guitarist who composes the bulk of their music.
Notable crowd favourites included the afore-mentioned ‘Hologram’, which the Twins sang twice, ‘Oh Hell No’, their song which featured in Sharkado 3, and classics such as ‘All The Small Things’, Bad Behaviour’, and their two Eurovision entries, ‘Lipstick’, and ‘Waterline’. ‘Lipstick’ is traditionally the signal to fans that the concert is about to end, but the fans still wanted more, and so John and Edward returned, sang ‘Hologram’ a second time, and left the stage – only to return to dance in the audience to ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ and ‘Reach’, before finally running backstage.
It was an extreme pleasure to be among the diehard fans and curious club goers at Jedward’s concert on Sunday night. The duo have gone from strength to strength in the seven years since they first burst into the public’s consciousness, and there’s definitely no sign that they’re going to stop anytime soon. Highlights, apart from the songs, included Edward walking over the bar while singing, much to the bemusement of those drinking there, both twins crowd surfing (in reality more of a general laying down on the arms of fans), and the full-on party atmosphere that is characteristic of any Jedward concert, but even more so on this occasion, which was definitely one to celebrate.
Check out the new video for ‘Hologram’ – we’ll be reviewing it later this week:
