Four Tops & Temptations @ The O2

Several years ago, before I lived in London, I was living in a part of the country where you didn't get much in the way of gigs. I found out the Temptations were playing in town, but knowing that the only original member still alive was Otis Williams, the member known for not singing, I initially wasn't interested. However, as it wasn't very often I had bands playing just down the road I decided to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised, it was a very good gig, so much so that I went to see them again a few years later at the O2 with the Four Tops and last week was my third time going to the O2 to see the Four Tops and Temptations.

Support came from the Tavares. I arrived at the O2 around 19:40 to be greeted by airport style security to get in. Once inside, after buying a ludicrously price £5.50 pint of beer which tasted like socks and going some roundabout way to get into the arena itself, I got to my seat around 20:00, just in time to see the Tavares finishing their set. I don't think I can ever recall a support act finishing so early.

After what seemed quite a long wait, the Four Tops came on stage. Given the number of hits they've had, there was never going to be time to hear them all, but I was glad to hear them play "Loco in Acapulco" which was a song I remember coming out as a new song in 1988 and liking it. This was followed up by the excellent "Simple Game", this was definitely the highlight of the evening. They finished with a medley of hits starting with "Reach Out" and ending with "I Can't Help Myself". My only complaint was that the set seemed far too short, it couldn't have lasted any more than 45 minutes.

After another lengthy wait, on came the Temptations. The hit the ground running with "Get Ready" but then went to play some of their lesser known songs and gradually the crowd would start to sit down, clearly this wasn't going down very well. They never really recovered from that despite starting to play some of the hits everyone wanted to hear. What didn't help was that there was too much talking to the audience and not enough singing. We found out that new lead singer Larry Braggs had fell of the stage at a gig in Manchester a couple of days earlier and banged his head, so fair play to him for continuing. They did start to find their stride again, but it wasn't long before they played "My Girl" which you know marks the end of the gig. Again it probably lasted 45 minutes and I was on the tube by 22:30.

So Four Tops were excellent, Temptations a bit disappointing but overall it seemed to be over before you knew it. I'm sure the previous gigs lasted longer.