Memory, Music, and Meaning - BLUE’s 25-Year Victory Lap Lands Strong at Eventim Apollo
- Alan Bryce
- Apr 18
- 4 min read
Eventim Apollo, London - 15th April 2026
IMAGES / WORDS ALAN BRYCE
By the time I reached the Eventim Apollo on the 15th of April, I’d already made peace with the undeniable truth that nearly everyone entering the venue with me had lived at least one entire life since All Rise first knocked the door off the UK charts. A room full of, grown ups pretending—briefly—that knees don’t creak, that mortgages don’t exist, that pop music didn’t raise us as much as our parents did.
There’s a particular smell to a night like this: perfume, lager, memory. And before BLUE even hit the stage, the place was already vibrating with anticipation and a nervous kind of gratitude—gratitude that these songs, and we along with them, are still upright.
Mina Simioni came on before the nostalgia machine was fully warmed up and did something quietly dangerous: she earned the room. No gimmicks, no pleading—just a voice that sliced through the early chatter and made you look up from your pint and think, who is this? There was a poise to her performance—confident without arrogance, warm without pandering—that felt almost subversive in a hall primed for memory rather than discovery. She sang like someone who expected to be listened to, not indulged, staking out her own defiant patch of the Apollo stage before the pop cavalry rolled in.
And then 911, who walked out like seasoned uncles at a wedding who still know all the moves and aren’t afraid to prove it. Whatever irony might have been hovering around the edges was immediately kicked down the stairs. This was confident, unapologetic pop—tight harmonies, drilled choreography, and songs designed not for self analysis but for shared release. They weren’t there to reclaim relevance. They were there to remind us that at one point, pop music worked because it didn’t overthink itself. And judging by the crowd’s reaction, the reminder was both welcomed and loudly agreed with.
Then came BLUE.
There’s something quietly radical about watching a band hit their 25th anniversary without resorting to apology or cosplay. When they opened with 2025’s “One Last Time,” it felt like a statement: yes, there’s history here, but we’re not embalming it.
From there the set rolled forward with something like purpose. “Fly By” landed early, smooth and aerodynamic as ever, followed closely by “All Rise,” which detonated the room into a choir of people who absolutely did know all the words and had been waiting twenty odd years to prove it.
What struck me—as someone now old enough to have seen several scenes come and go—was how unembarrassed the whole thing felt. “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” wasn’t played as a novelty cover but as a proper emotional heavyweight, sung with the kind of restraint that only comes after living with a song for decades. “Guilty,” “Breathe Easy,” and “If You Come Back” followed, each one pulling a different memory out of the crowd like a magician working miracles with a battered deck of cards.
Mid set, the band leaned into deeper fan territory—“U Make Me Wanna,” “Beautiful,” “Spiritual”—songs that once lived on CD singles and now exist mainly in muscle memory. These weren’t performed like museum pieces; they were delivered with the confidence of musicians who know exactly why these songs still matter, even if nobody’s quite writing think pieces about them anymore.
There was choreography, yes—but the tasteful kind, more punctuation than performance. The real action was in the vocals, still locked together with startling precision. When “Too Close” rolled around, it didn’t feel like a hit being wheeled out on cue; it felt like a collective heave of recognition, the room surging and singing as one organism remembering how to feel a certain way.
In the encore, with “One Love,” I’ll admit it caught me off guard how hard that moment landed. Arms up, voices cracking, a room full of people who’ve survived the long arc from chart pop to adult life, singing about unity like it still meant something—and for those few minutes, it absolutely did.
Walking back out into Hammersmith, ears ringing, I realised this hadn’t been a nostalgia trap. It had been a reminder. Not of youth, exactly—but of connection. Of songs that knew their job and did it well. BLUE didn’t rewrite history that night. They simply stood inside it, singing, while we remembered why we’d cared in the first place.
And honestly? At my age, that’s more than enough.
SET LIST
One Last Time
Fly By
Souls of the Underground
All Rise
Alive/Bubblin’
The Vow
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word (Elton John cover)
Guilty
Breathe Easy
Flowers
U Make Me Wanna
Beautiful Spiritual
Haven’t Found You Yet
If You Come Back
Best In Me
All About Us
Neon Honey/Dance With Me
Too Close (Next cover)
Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours
ENCORE
The Day The Earth Stood Still
One Love
Curtain Falls
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