Guisborough singer-songwriter Abi Alton talks about life on the road with the X Factor arena tour
Abi Alton
Growing as an artist and having an amazing time - that’s Abi Alton’s assessment so far about life on the road with the X Factor arena tour.
By the time Teesside girl Abi, 19, and seven other acts roll up at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena tomorrow, she’ll already have performed in Belfast, Dublin and Manchester.
But with thousands of North-east fans set to give the Guisborough singer-songwriter a warm welcome, she plans a slightly different approach to her performance.
Speaking during one of the rare breaks she’ll get before the tour ends on March 29, she said: “So far, in the other arenas, I’ve mainly just gone on and sung. But at Newcastle, I’d love to have a brief chat with the crowd and explain how special the show is going to be for me, performing in the North-east.”
And Abi’s no stranger to Newcastle. In 2012, she briefly lived in the city having enrolled on an English Language course at the university, but quit the course after just a few weeks to follow her instinct and dreams.
View gallery Gallery: Abi Alton - after The X Factor
View gallery
She said: “I loved Newcastle, but I just felt the course wasn’t for me. I knew my heart was in music.”
The tour may only be a few days in, but Abi and her X Factor pals rehearsed for weeks beforehand. And those rehearsals, combined with her arena experiences so far, have given Abi a new surge of confidence.
She said: “When people see me on the tour, I think they’re going to be quite shocked because I’ve gone from being just a singer to being a performer and entertainer.
“I’m still staying true to myself - I’m just a better performer now.
“We have a creative director, Beth, who really ‘gets’ the artist I want to be. Her ideas for the stage, the lighting and what I wear very much fit in with that. It’s nice to be helped by someone who really believes in what I’m doing. And the voting thing doesn’t count any more - it’s purely about making us the best performers we can possibly be.”
Abi admits the first night of the tour, at the 11,000 capacity Odyssey Arena in Belfast, was “pretty surreal.”
She said: “That’s when it really sank in that I was on an arena tour. I did sneak a look at the arena as it began to fill up. It was like, oh my goodness, every one of these seats is soon to going to occupied by a person who might want to buy my CD!”
Grounded Abi talks matter-of-factly about life on the road - or sea, as when they took a ferry from Holyhead to Dublin for the Ireland gigs. She said: “I’m not a big fan of boats. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but we did get to go up to see the captain. We had a discussion about people throwing themselves overboard.
“Then we went by bus from Dublin to Belfast. We’ve got a tour bus but it’s not as glamorous as it sounds. It’s just, like, a bus!”
But for the next few weeks, that bus will ferry her and the X Factor crew up and down the country - and she can’t wait.
She said: “I’m making some lovely friendships, especially with some of the dancers and crew, and I’m thriving, really.
“It’s tiring, but worth it. How many people get to do what I’m doing now?”
No comments:
Post a Comment