Review: James Blunt @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena 28/10/25
Charming, funny and possessed with a catalogue of hits, James Blunt ticked all the boxes during a thrilling night of live music commemorating his debut album, Back to Bedlam.
Words Tobias Handke // Image supplied
James Blunt w/Go-Jo @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre 28/10/2025
James Blunt has copped his fair share of shit across his 20 year career. The song that turned him into a global superstar, ‘You’re Beautiful’, which happens to be about a man getting high and stalking a woman on the London underground, saw him ridiculed for his privileged background and trembling falsetto. He wasn’t helped by the fact that the song was played nonstop on radio for a good year, quickly wearing thin on listeners. But much of the hate Blunt received during those early years has dissipated recently, thanks in part to the Englishman’s self-deprecating humour, which he often displays on social media, leading to a follower count of over 1.3 million.
The goodwill towards Blunt has been forthcoming from Aussie audiences for several years now, with the former British Army Captain returning just over a year after packing out arenas across the nation. His latest tour comes in celebration of the 20th anniversary of his seminal debut album, Back to Bedlam. But before the cheeky chap took to the stage, Australia’s own Go-Jo did his best to raise the atmosphere with a set of genre-blurring tunes.
Best known as the Aussie entrant at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Go-Jo was full of energy as he shimmied about the stage, trying to gee up the crowd with mixed results. Go-Jo and his band (comprising of a bassist/keyboardist and drummer) put on a decent showing that included arm waving, handclapping, audience call and response and Michael Jackson-like dance moves from the main man.
There’s a bit of Mika to Go-Jo’s sound, with the future pop of ‘Double Down’, rollicking hit single ‘Mrs. Hollywood’ and new club meets rock track ‘APPETITE’ a great insight into what this fella is all about. Go-Jo finished up with his Eurovision entry ‘Milkshake Man’, a quirky tale of self-confidence and self-expression that got the biggest cheer.
A short video compiled of footage highlighting major cultural events over the past 20 years played on the big screen before James Blunt appeared on stage with his acoustic guitar. Dressed like he’d just been shopping in Primark (the UK equivalent of K-Mart) with his jeans, white tee and brown leather jacket normcore setup, Blunt launched into Back To Bedlam’s opening track, ‘High’. As the crowd stood and applauded, his band joined him, with Blunt and co following ‘High’ with the UK crooner’s biggest hit, ‘You’re Beautiful’, which caused a mass sing-along and phones to be raised in the air as people tried to document the moment.
“It’s all downhill from here because that was the hit,” Blunt joked before keeping the energy high with ‘Wisemen’. Stripping off his jacket, he sat at the piano to perform a haunting rendition of ‘Goodbye My Lover’, the spotlight shining brightly on Blunt as his emotive voice echoed throughout the venue. It was quickly evident Blunt was going to perform his UK #1 album in chronological order, and despite his scratchy voice (it was the second last show of an 18 month tour), he gave it his all during the moving ‘Tears and Rain’.
‘Out of My Mind’, an extended ‘So Long, Jimmy’ with rocking guitar and keyboard solos and fan favourite ‘Billy’ kept the momentum going, with Blunt frequently running across the stage and playing up to the crowd, pumping his fists and urging punters to scream and shout.
Blunt was in a jovial mood throughout the night, showcasing his trademark humour and wit whenever he spoke, be it thanking his fans for buying Back to Bedlam so he could “buy my nice house in Ibiza”, telling the hilarious story behind his song ‘Billy’ or telling the men who don’t want to be there that their partners owe them, commenitng, “you came with them to the show, so they can make you come at home.” Cheeky.
The soaring ‘Cry’ came before ‘No Bravery’, a song Blunt explained was inspired during his time in Kosovo with NATO in 1999. Calling the song “poignant”, a grainy video of the destruction caused by the war played on the big screen as the lyrics “Houses burnt beyond repair / The smell of death is in the air” hit even harder when thinking of the current crisis in Ukraine and Israel.
Having worked his way through Back to Bedlam, Blunt teased the end of the concert, but gave the audience a choice of playing his old songs or a new two hour album (that doesn’t actually exist). The classics were obviously given the two thumbs up, and Blunt declared, “Chairs are no longer valid”, in other words, “get up and dance!”
The unlikely pop star reeled off fan favourites like ‘Carry You Home’, ‘Postcards’ and ‘Stay the Night’, along with two covers – an epic take of Slade’s glam rock hit ‘Coz I Luv You’, which saw the songwriter take a lap of the crowd, hugging random people and giving out high fives, and an upbeat take on Robin Schulz’s ‘OK’.
‘Same Mistake’, which Blunt claimed as his favourite song, brought the things to a close, with the troubadour urging everyone to use their phones to light up the arena while he performed the All the Lost Souls cut.
After a brief interlude, Blunt reappeared and proclaimed he wanted to end the night with a miserable song, cue ‘Monsters’, a song about Blunt’s father and his battle with illness. Sitting at the piano, he remarked that he had contemplated not performing the track due to his voice being “generally quite fucked”, but with the help of the boisterous front section, he got through it before playing the “happy one”, a stirring ‘Bonfire Heart’.
Blunt ended proceedings surfing the piano during a ripping version of ‘1973’ that had the AEC Arena rocking. Thanking those in attendance from the bottom of his heart, Blunt said he’ll be back for the 40th anniversary of Back to Bedlam, and there’s no doubt after his brilliant and engaging performance, everyone else here will be too.
