This Together At Home tour promotes Michael Ball & Alfie Boe’s new sixth studio album which arrives in stores on November 8th 2025. It marks their 10th year singing together and is the much-loved collaborators’ anthem to the people and places that mean the most to them and to their vast followers and fans. For this tour the duo take to the road in a 12-date marathon across the UK for two months for a huge run of arena headline shows that will bring this special album to life.
After solo decorated careers in theatre and opera, Ball and Boe are chart superstars. As a duo, they have sold over 1.5 million albums in the UK, received two Classic Brit Awards, sold-out three headline arena tours and presented three ITV Specials. Their voices blend well together and were genuinely appreciated by the vast audience at the M& S Arena which has a capacity for 11,000 people.
The show started with a voice-over backed by the theme tune to TV’s Top of The Pops and a booming voice reciting the past successes of the two vocalists. Ball and Boe appeared from a trapdoor at the back of the stage and the show started with them singing ‘Solsbury Hill’ (Peter Gabriel) and ‘Proud’ (M People) accompanied by a 12 piece orchestra and three backing singers. A giant video screen conveyed live images of the two singers throughout the performance.
Some of the songs they performed are featured on the new album whilst others were from earlier albums, such as ‘A Thousand Years’ from their first album and ‘The Gambler’ from the Together in Las Vegas album.
In between the vocals the duo interacted with the audience and encouraged them to join in with hand-clapping and torch lights from their phones. They lauded the city of Liverpool by wearing Liverpool Football T-shirts and showing photographs of their visit to Anfield Football Club, apparently Ball’s first visit. They also treated the home-grown audience to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and ‘Ferry Across The Mersey’ with a video of The Royal Iris ferry boat on the River Mersey circa 1950’s.
The Hollies hit, ‘He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother’ and Joe Cocker’s ‘Up Where We Belong’ must have brought a tear to the eyes of many in the audience, whilst a rousing rendition of ‘The Greatest Show’ brought the audience to their feet as did Take That’s ‘Rule The World’. Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Homeward Bound’ paid tribute to Wigan with Ball asking where exactly it is and John Farnham’s ‘You're the Voice’ and Gerry Rafferty’s ‘Baker Street’ proved popular choices featuring a piano solo in one and a saxophone solo in the other.
The show wouldn’t have been complete without a Les Mis montage, and it was resplendent with the vocalists singing alone and both together, featuring ‘Empty Chairs Empty Tables’ (Michael Ball solo) and ‘Bring Him Home’, (Alfie Boe solo) which brought the house down.
With jokes and anecdotes in between the songs, the pair had the audience in the palm of their hands throughout the show and as it finished there were cries for ‘More’. They reacted with two more songs, the final one being ‘Viva Las Vegas’ which they performed wearing their Liverpool Football shirts whilst dancing and interacting with the audience.
The marketing blurb promised the pair ‘Would be waiting to connect you with those feelings of peace and love, joy and celebration’ and I can honestly say they did.
The stage lighting and video sequences are to be commended along with the Support Act, The Conjurers, Matthew Pomeroy and Natasha Lamb who are worldwide award-winning magicians recently appearing in Las Vegas and worldwide.
Their performance was incredible incorporating a David Copperfield illusion where Natasha disappeared into a tiny cube shaped box from an oblong box and then reappeared after having four swords pierced through the small box, apparently with her inside it. There was lots of audience participation along with Matthew painting a portrait of Matt Lucas which was given away as a prize as part of the performance. Matthew related that his father had been born in Liverpool so had an affinity with the city. They also gave a history of Ball and Boe’s singing careers before starting their illusions, combining art, magic and music in their polished performance.
The production proved to be an enormous hit with the audience of mainly die-hard Ball and Boe fans and they were on their feet begging for more as the show came to an end. It was an excellent show, and the two vocalists are to be applauded for a very strenuous vocal collaboration which was greatly appreciated by all who attended.
This is an exemplary production of note-perfect vocals from two personalities, one an affable, laid-back Michael Ball and the other, a slightly shyer persona, Alfie Boe, who complement each other perfectly resulting in just over two hours of vocal perfection and truly entertaining amazing performances.
Ball and Boe are on a UK Tour until 14th April 2025.
For tickets and tour dates, see https://www.seetickets.com/tour/michael-ball-alfie-boe
Reviewer – Anne Horne
On – 5th April 2025
