Celebrating 25 years in the business, the enduring boy band, despite their name, are unable to bring blue skies to Christopher Wren’s Royal Hospital on the second of the Live in Chelsea concerts this June. But their performance is far from grey. Slick and still dextrous with their dance moves, Blue sign, seal and deliver.
What most impresses in the evening, and indeed, on previous dates on their anniversary tour, is the quality of the four men’s voices, especially that of Antony Costa, who always seemed to be in the shadows of the other three. Lee Ryan with his falsetto, Duncan James with his silky voice and Simon Webbe’s soulful tones left no room for Costa. However, tonight, he demonstrates that his voice is the most versatile of all.
Costa has also co-written many of the tracks on their new album, Reflections, which reached No. 2 in the Official UK Album Charts earlier this year. And a few of these make it into tonight’s set list, such as the mature-sounding The Vow (written with Ryan) and the stirring The Day The Earth Stood Still. James’s One Last Time, the first song released from the album, opens the performance at Chelsea, cleverly mixed in with Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling. And Webbe’s fun Sounds of the Underground makes a brief appearance, too.
The guys are proud of their songwriting skills, and so they should be, and they fit seamlessly amongst their more well-known 2000s hits, most of which get an airing here. Fly By II gets the audience’s palms pumping downwards while All Rise, 2001’s summer anthem, has everyone sticking one, two, three, then four fingers in the air. Breathe Easy is astonishing, with Ryan still nailing those high notes. Also knocking it out of the park is the criminally underrated 2022’s Haven’t Found You Yet.
Their voices sound better in the open air than in a concert arena, and at Chelsea there appears to be less reliance on a backing track, used here only right at the end. They really don’t need one at all, with the small band producing enough noise and variety.
Strangely, one of the men says that the night is the final date of their tour, but their website suggests this is not true. They have plenty of festival shows ahead and a whole series of dates in Germany and Italy this autumn. Perhaps it’s just a white lie to make us feel special. They work hard, these boys, and in the courtyard of the handsome Royal Hospital Chelsea, it truly is an evening of One Love.
Reviewed on 11 June 2026,
Live at Chelsea runs until 14 June 2026. Tickets here
