Live at the Marquee: Alexandra Burke

I’M washing my hands of this one from the off.

This has nothing to do with reputation or personal pride (I traded those in years ago) — it’s just that I have no interest in X Factor.

I’ve done my share of banal, soulless, milkshake pop. But back in my day it wasn’t Simon Cowell who was controlling the puppet (and more importantly, the purse) strings — it was Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

No I’m washing my hands of this one in the name of objectivity. There’s a large percentage of the population that likes X Factor — Ms Burke included. So in an effort to be fair, my 6-year-old son Luke took over the reins for this one — he’s a big fan and has form on the live show front having witnessed Westlife, JLS, Boyzone and Bryan Adams to date.

Alexandra Burke was near the top of this year’s offerings so I agreed to go, if only for the optics.

To make it easier for him, we broke it down into sections.

Stage show: Luke thought it was very good, the singers were really enjoyable and the dancers were fantastic.

Songs: She played all the big hits — Don’t Let Me Start Without You, Broken Heels, All Night Long, Hallelujah and, of course, Bad Boys.

Crowd: Luke was a bit worried it was full of girls, but after a man-to-man chat, he soon got over that and joined in the hand waving.

Verdict (JLS is his benchmark): Alexandra was better. Loved all her songs, thought she was more fun and had a better time.

To her credit she does have a great voice and her interaction with the crowd was very enjoyable.

Personally, I’m not a convert yet, but it was certainly a good show.

Whether or not I’m ready for those other X Factor stars, Jedward, is debatable — an exercise in endurance that could test even the strongest bond between father and son.

Rating: 5/5

Picture: Darragh Kane