This past weekend, I went to see Heads of State, aka Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill, at the o2 indig0 in North Greenwich London.
I have been looking forward to the show for weeks as I am a huge New Edition fan – as a group and all their solo projects. But despite loving them since they first hit the came out with Candy Girl in 1983, I have never seen any of them live. So this was a big deal for me.
But first I had to get past the first hurdle of the original date (Wednesday 28th) getting cancelled. I had sound check passes for that date as well (doh!), and just found out the show was cancelled when I turned up for that. Lol!
Thankfully it was rescheduled for Saturday, and it was more than worth the wait. The crowd who turned up to see the show was extremely mixed – ages, races, sex and dress senses, but the thing we all had in common was an obvious love for the guys, which very evident when they eventually came out. All dressed smartly in white suits, with Bobby in a white baseball cap and Ralph in a trilby, they all looked pretty good. Bobby has piled on the pounds in recent years but was looking more on point than he has been portrayed in the media.
Complete with live band, they sang a mixture of New Edition tracks and solo material, including Every Little Step, Don’t Be Cruel, My Prerogative, Sensitivity, My My My, Mr Telephone Man, Lost In Love and Cool It Now, with each star getting their chance to shine while the other two played back up. Highlights for me included Bobby taking it back damn near 27 years to sing Jealous Girl, a track that appeared on the debut New Edition album. Also, Ralph singing Do What I Gotta Do, and Johnny and Ralph singing the New Edition hit Can You Stand the Rain. Each guy sounded great vocally and their dance moves, admittedly not as intricate as in their younger days, were cute and fun to watch. Bobby slipped into old school mode by attempting some grinding moves and by throwing sex faces at the audiences, which was more amusing than sexy.
This show was one of my most favourite ever for the sentimental factor. These guys were seriously the soundtrack to a lot of my childhood, so their music is so very dear to me. I’m glad I got a chance to see them (well three out of six ain’t bad) in my lifetime, as who would have thought they’d tour the UK again???
This year has been a mixture of highs and lows where music concerts are concerned. I got to see NKOTB five times (yeah, I’m a bit of a fan) and missed out on seeing my ultimate hero Michael Jackson – due to his unfortunate passing. So glad I got to see the Heads of State, and even more so that it was a good show.
I have some great video footage but annoyingly wasn't able to load it up. I'll try and add it later down the line.
