Olly Murs speaks out about Newbury live show

The artist will be performing at Newbury Race Course in August.

Olly Murs will appear at the 'Party in the Paddock' event Saturday, August 14. Tickets can be booked here: newburyracecourse.co.uk.

Pricing details are as follows:

Premier: £60 / Advanced Saver: £54

Grandstand: £45 / Advanced Saver: £40.50

Hospitality and Dining packages starting from £149

 

Ahead of this new performance date, Murs was interviewed by Chuff Media:

We've all had different ways of dealing with the past 18 months. What's yours been?

"The last year has been difficult with ups and downs for everyone. I've just tried to keep myself busy, I got on the whole TikTok thing for quite a while pranking the girlfriend and I kept fit. I dyed my hair a few times, I became best friends with the fridge for quite a long period! Apart from that, just trying to stay positive and know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I think I always knew we would get to the end of this period, but it's still got that unpredictability about it. I'm very lucky to be in the position that I am right now and I just hope we can come out of it sooner rather than later."

Newbury will be one of the first shows that you'll have done in quite a long time. Are you looking forward to finally getting back out on the road again?

"Yeah, I can't wait! Newbury Racecourse is a great gig as well. I did it a few years back, great energy, great vibe so it will be good to get back on stage, get my mic out, get my ears in, get my dancing shoes on, and just get out there and perform. Can't wait!"

This has been the longest period that you've gone without live shows or touring. How are you going to get rid of the rustiness? 

"It’s been two years as I hadn’t toured since 2019, but I’m born ready - there’s no rust here, get the WD40 out! I’m actually excited to get out there again and start singing - I think it’s just something that I'm born to do, I enjoy it. We've had the odd gigs here and there, but nothing will beat obviously performing on stage in front of thousands of people.' 

Everyone seems to know about how the performers have fared during lockdown, but are you looking forward to working with your band and crew again?

"Honestly every industry has been affected. Of course, lots of industries have flourished during this period but definitely the music industry and the live music industry has suffered massively and there's lots of great people that work for me that are musicians, a lot of people work for me that are crew, the catering teams, people that put the stage up, there's lighting as well, there's sound, there's so many different people and they need to get back to work like I do.  It's going to be a great summer to see all them back at work smiling again because it's been such a difficult year. People are getting vaccinated now, the people that are at risk are hopefully feeling a lot safer so you've got to hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is that we can get on stage again, we can play to big crowds, everyone can enjoy the atmosphere again and the entertainment industry can get back up and running. It's so good for everyone, good for mental health, it’s good to be out there feeling happy, listening to live music, there's nothing better."

Over the past year, as you mentioned previously you've been quite active on TikTok, have any of the pranks ever got out of hand?

"No, luckily they didn't! I think we stopped them just at the right time. There was one point where me and Amelia said “please, let's not hurt each other, let's not end up in hospital over something stupid”. We had a lot of fun doing it!"

Looking at the numbers and the likes, you kept a lot of people entertained.

"Yeah, that was always the aim, to see the reaction of people and what they loved about the videos and everything was great. It was fun, I enjoyed it, I love TikTok, and I'll always do videos, but it's hard to keep up with it because it's moving so much all the time! It's great and it entertains lots of people, it gave me something to do during lockdown, It gave me something of a purpose."

You also got into your fitness, was this important for mental health and well-being? When you tour again will you be aiming to keep up the level of exercise?

"Training is something I've always wanted to do but my training started two years ago when I had a knee operation so it was really to help me get better, stronger and fitter. Lockdown helped me actually concentrate on that and work harder. I'm in the greatest shape of my life at the minute and I'm very, very happy. I think now that I've reached the back end of the 30s, I'm 37 now, most importantly I want to live my best life - I want to live happy and healthy. I want to be a fit and healthy Dad at some point and I want to be able to be out with them as much as I can and keeping fit is important."

Everybody's relying on their friends and families at the moment to see them through, are you starting to think about a family of your own?

"I want to have a family at some point, I want to get married and I want to do all of that. I'm happy, I'm in the best relationship I've ever been in. I'm in love and I'm not going to shy away from being a Dad. I don't know when, but we'll see what happens."

Is your new puppy a sign of the commitment?

"Exactly. I think we knew when we made that decision, we wouldn't have done it if we didn't truly love each other. We felt that that was the right thing to do. But you know having the dog is huge. She's amazing. it's massively changed our lives and only for the better, which is good. Was it a lockdown puppy? Yes and no. We got her just before the second proper lockdown, we took our time over it, we talked about it a lot, we didn't want to make any rash decisions. Now we've got her it's like she's never not been here, so we're so happy that we have her, she's great."

Was it a nice breath of fresh air to be able to go out wearing your mask and not get stopped every five minutes? 

"No, I actually hate it! I hated it because I like seeing people's faces, it felt really eerie. Everyone didn't really speak and was really quiet, you couldn’t really see people's facial expressions, and I didn't enjoy it very much to be honest. I was really missing interacting with people, I mean, part of it was nice, not getting people badgering you for photos and stuff all the time, but actually I sometimes don't get people badgering me for photos, I walk into a supermarket and I don't know if the woman's looking at me to get out of the way or she's looking at me as “Hi, Nice to see you”, I just get this really weird vibe when I go shopping. I know we're all doing it for a good reason, but I can't wait to see people's faces again. That'd be nice."

A lot of people know you from The Voice but you have a new TV show coming soon, Starstruck

"Yes, at some point in the future, we've got that coming out, which is great a show that I'm very excited about being on. I'm the main man, as they would say. I'm hosting the show. It’s something I've wanted to do for quite some time to get back on TV again, on a primetime Saturday night. The opportunity came along to host and it's exciting for me, it's pretty much a modern-day version of ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ but it's got a new format, it's got new ideas, we have a judging panel on there. We have Adam Lambert, Sheridan Smith, Beverly Knight and Jason Manford who are giving their expertise on the performances, all can sing, all have been on stage, all have been different characters in their life so four great experts. We have four icons a night, three people sing on stage together, one song, and we see the transformations, we see their journey and then the judges pick their favourite of the night.  Then they sing again in a sing off, which is when the voting audience decides who is the winner."

Did you think back when you did your first audition for X Factor you would, a decade later, become this all-round entertainer doing television, voiceover acting and of course singing?

"I never expected any of this, I was very lucky. I knew I was an entertainer more so than just a singer, I knew there was a few more strings to my bow, that I was a jack of all trades! I knew that I could do different things and I was always trying to find my space, where was I going to navigate to, where was going to be my next stop. Singing is obviously what I love doing and then all these other things have just come on at the same time. The voiceovers, the presenting, that's just people seeing something in me. It wasn't something I ever chased. I never chased being a presenter of a TV show. I never chased being a voiceover artist. These were things that people just asked me to do and I was like, “Yeah, why not? Let's give it a go”. I just think I've got a natural talent to do it, I hope I do more of it, I love it. It's a different skill and something I'm learning all the time. I really, really enjoyed Starstruck."

With the racecourse shows this summer, some people are just there for the racing, so do you find it's good to play to a mix of audiences? Does that give you a challenge to win everybody over?

"Yeah, I've always played the racecourses like Newbury, and you know that not every Boyfriend or Dad or Girlfriend or Sister or Auntie or Mum is going to be a fan of me! So I have always used those days as “if they don't like me, let's prove them wrong”. I think what's so great is these racecourse nights have got so much going on. You've got the food, you've got the racecourse, you've got the gambling bit of fun, and then you've got the concert at the end of it. It’s a really great day out for friends and family to hang out together.  There's always going to be something for someone and I'm hoping it's to come and see me but if it's not, I promise them that I will give them the best show and I hope that they walk away go “You know what? Fair play to Olly he did a good show”, that's all I want."

So what can we expect from your Newbury show?

"Just a fun, energetic show - I'm going to give everything, I want people to be smiling again. I missing seeing some teeth and missing lovely smiles and that's why we're on stage on. It's just so people having a good time, enjoy themselves. You've had such sadness over this last year, such difficult times as a nation so it'd be great for me anyway, I'd love to come to Haydock, have a great night with everyone enjoying themselves everyone have a good time and I can't wait to bring it on."