At the age of 23, James Arthur started thinking that maybe a music career wouldn’t work out for him. His mother bribed him to audition for The X Factor. He went on to win which kickstarted his career.

He is currently touring in support of his latest album, 2024’s Bitter Sweet Love. He kicks off his set with the title track It gets the crowd singing along: “I need just a bit of sweet love / And not your bittersweet love”.

Later on he says the next song is from the soundtrack for “The Greatest Showman”. It’s “Rewrite The Stars”, which he recorded with Anne-Marie. “And she’s here tonight… Just kidding!” he jokes. “What if we rewrite the stars? / Say you were made to be mine / Nothing could keep us apart / You’ll be the one I was meant to find”.

Midway into the set, Arthur says the next song he sang with Kelly Clarkson. He says many people like to propose during this song. “Does anyone have a ring on them?” he asks the crowd. “Wherever we go, whatever we do / I just wanna spend forever with you” he sings. After the song, he asks if anyone got engaged. “No? Well, maybe next time”.

For the penultimate song in his set, he plays the cover of Christina Perri’s “a thousand years”. This song has a mind boggling 1.6 billion streams on Spotify. It’s part of the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. “I have loved you for a thousand years / I’d love you for a thousand more”.

He ends the set with his first major hit, the cover of Shontelle’s “Impossible”. He has created a unique version of the song that sounds amazing and is a great choice to end the set with.

See the full setlist here.

Cost of a ticket: $60
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It
Rating Scale: Exceptional Value > Worth It > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother

Quinn Delaney