Festival Review: Billy Ocean - Southampton Summer Sessions, 21/06/26
The beloved hitmaker delights a buzzing Guildhall Square with a joyous evening of vibrant soul-pop.
Weatherwise, you couldn’t ask for a better day to see British- Caribbean music legend Billy Ocean. Southampton has been blessed with a gloriously sunny Sunday on which to welcome Ocean, along with former Wet Wet Wet frontman Marti Pellow. Both men turn out to be on exceedingly - almost surprisingly - fine form. First comes Pellow, the Scottish singer whose distinctive vocals have graced 13 top 10 hits (including 3 UK No.1s) over the years.
Clad in sparkly trousers and backed by an energetic 7-piece band, it’s immediately obvious that Pellow remains a showman of the highest order. Getting the crowd singing early with funky anthems such as ‘Sweet Little Mystery’ and ‘Angel Eyes’, it feels less like a support set, and more like a co-headline show which just happened to be first up on this particular night. Something about the sheer blue sky and blazing sunshine melds perfectly with Pellow’s endlessly charming stage presence and back catalogue of sublime pop bangers.
As if the vibes weren’t wonderful enough, he throws in a cover of Bowie’s eternal floor-filler ‘Let’s Dance’, and - as unlikely as it might sound - Pellow more than rises to the challenge of honouring David’s iconic voice, to such an extent that he feels like a spiritual successor to the late Starman. He slows things down for Wet Wet Wet’s classic ballad ‘Goodnight Girl’, which is rapturously received by the middle-aged, largely female crowd, who sing back every word.
Just as the set appears to be drawing to a close, he pulls out his former band’s chart-topping cover of The Beatles’ ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, before closing with the hugely successful ‘Love Is All Around’, well-remembered thanks to its starring role in Hugh Grant romcom ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. The crowd, of course, sing along at the top of their voices, waving their arms in unison as Pellow sings the hell out of one of the greatest pop-ballads of the last century.
It’s quite an act to follow, but if anyone’s up to the task, it’s Billy Ocean. After an extended, hype-building intro in which every member of his 13-piece band joins a lively opening jam, Ocean finally appears, looking sharp in a blue three-piece suit. Right from the off he’s grooving across the stage, entertaining the audience with ease before uttering even a single note. When he does start singing, it’s heartwarming to hear that, like Pellow, his instantly recognisable voice has not aged a day. Watching him slink across the stage during opening number ‘One World’, it’s hard to believe that Ocean is 76 years old.
His boundless energy and crackling charisma is infectious, and as a result the whole of Guildhall Square is already dancing along, despite being largely unfamiliar with the song, which is taken from Ocean’s 2020 album of the same name. The next track, however, elicits cheers from its very first notes. Immediately announcing itself with its iconic piano refrain, Ocean’s breakthrough single ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ sounds just as fresh today as when he first released it 50 years ago, the audience erupting into a communal singalong as its gloriously melodic chorus hits.
He follows this early high with the slick R&B of ‘Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)’ and the punchy soul of ‘Stay the Night’, the latter bolstered by an impressive 4-piece brass section. Then, as the onstage lights and lettering spelling out his name turn red, the first notes of 1977 hit ‘Red Light Spells Danger’ bring a collective, anticipatory hush over the crowd. The song’s memorably deliberate build-up has punters clapping in unison, before it explodes with a signature key change, Ocean’s voice masterfully switching to the higher register required, and blending beautifully with the vocals of the 3 backing singers (including daughter Cherie), who are also integral to the song.
He wastes no time doubling down on the euphoria, launching straight into the anthemic US chart-topper ‘Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car’, which, quite frankly, sets the place on fire with its irresistible dancefloor rhythms and belt-out chorus. A distinct change of pace follows, with a hypnotically extended version of shimmering 1988 ballad ‘The Colour of Love’ giving Ocean an opportunity to flex his considerable orchestrating-audience-singalong muscles.
The next tune, an inspired cover of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’, needs no orchestration, with Guildhall Square bursting into song as soon as they realise that the reggae classic is getting an airing. The serviceable 2020 track ‘Mystery’ bobs along nicely, before the atmospheric ballad ‘Suddenly’ sweeps the audience up in its glittering romanticism, prompting hundreds of phone torches to be held aloft by swaying arms, not least by those of one particularly passionate punter - from the balcony of her overlooking flat!
With a stunning sunset heralding darkening skies, and the audience now fully immersed in the magic of Ocean’s music, he proceeds to deliver a formidable rendition of the swaggering synth-soul jam ‘Loverboy’, before knowingly asking the audience: “What happens when the going gets tough?”.
“The tough get going!”, everyone shouts back, and after an enjoyably obligatory “louder!”, he launches into ‘When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going’, which served as the theme for the 1985 film ‘The Jewel of the Nile’, and earned Ocean his only UK No.1 single. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s estactically received, with the entire audience singing and dancing along with aplomb.
The optimistic, unifying ‘One World’ track ‘Daylight’ serves as the penultimate song of the evening, with an especially fun outro seeing Ocean orchestrate separate singalongs for the women and men, before inviting everyone to join together for a cacophony of catchy “ohh la la la’s”. It’s a sonically sun-drenched way to draw the night towards a close, which seems fitting given what a roasting day it’s been.
Of course, the gig wouldn’t be complete without Ocean’s signature mega-hit ‘Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)’, which the crowd have been chanting at various intervals throughout the evening. “It’s coming, it’s coming”, Ocean had said with a smile. Well, now it's finally here, and it doesn’t disappoint. Beginning with its ‘Billie Jean'-esque beat and guitar before transforming with an earworm chorus of its own, ‘Caribbean Queen...’ captures everything that’s so great about Billy Ocean, and - in a surprise to literally no one - it absolutely rips live.
As they have been for the majority of the evening, every single punter sings its classic chorus with their whole chest, wrapping up a perfect summer party in joyous, timeless style.
Words by Ben Left
