Friday night saw a large crowd descend upon the O2 to witness American superstar, Alicia Keys. We had fairly decent tickets on the side of the stage, especially considering how many different tiers the O2 has. Unlike many other configurations in the O2, on this night all the area in the middle had been filled with seats. It kind of makes sense when you think about how laid back many of Keys’ songs can be.

The first support act was unmemorable in the form of some DJ playing R&B tunes followed by the old band, Soul 2 Soul. Although Soul 2 Soul looked like they’d recently joined with plenty of new fresh talent, I found their act quite weird. They had one big hit that they saved until the end, although the band seemed like a tribe of musicians where the actual make up changed through several generations.

And back to the main act. Keys played a great collection from her new and older albums, including saving many of her popular songs like Fallin’ for the final encore. Impressively I think she played for almost a straight two hours, weaving a semi dramatic story to tie all the songs together and give the show some flow. It was obvious the audience really enjoyed the show Keys put on, and evident that Keys really enjoys performing with her beaming smile and delightful laughter filling in the gaps between her conversations with the audience.