With his incredible musical talents and mainstream success over the years, Rex Orange County has solidified himself as one of the pioneers of ‘bedroom pop’ and became a name that is known worldwide. The 24-year-old, real name Alexander James O’Connor, has an adoring fanbase that spans all over the globe, thanks to his catchy, good-felling tracks that have you on your feet and dancing in no time. The versatility of Rex Orange County is unmatched however, as the artist is equally as good at producing heartfelt and emotional tracks with arguably some of the best song writing and lyrics in pop music. After the success of both of his first studio albums ‘Apricot Princess’ and ‘Pony’, Rex released his third studio album ‘Who Cares?’ in March of this year and announced a string of shows through Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the UK to accompany the amazing record. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances the Australian, New Zealand and European shows have been cancelled recently and we here at Music Why Not wish Alex all the best during this time. We were however lucky enough to catch Rex as he played a very special and highly anticipated show in Manchester at the outdoor Castlefield Bowl venue.
As the outdoor venue filled up you could feel the tension building throughout as everyone awaited Rex’s arrival onstage. The stage for tonight was incredibly decorated with disco balls, a giant who cares? Sign and featured giant cut-outs of colourful flowers and other references to the artwork from Rex Orange County’s recent album. Even the piano had lettering of ‘Manchester’ embodied onto it, which was a very nice personal touch! Rex took to the stage at an early time of 8pm and was immediately greeted with incredible amounts of love from those in attendance, some fans even brought flowers and eagerly awaited the opportunity to gift them to him during the night. He started the night off with “MAKING TIME” and from the very start right up until the very end, Rex was on top form. Throughout the night Rex chatted and laughed with the crowd in-between songs and he danced around the stage having a great time, he played fan favourites like “Best Friend”, “Corduroy Dreams” and “Loving is Easy” which are arguably some of his most popular songs and they all received incredible reactions from the crowd. A very special moment in the show came when numerous gigantic inflatable balls were unleashed into the crowd and were bounced around whilst Rex performed, everyone was laughing and having a good time and it just made the night that more special. As the night came to a close, Rex played the very emotional track “Pluto Projector” as his encore song, it was so beautifully delivered that you could feel the passion no matter where you were stood in the crowd and it made the perfect end for a perfect show.
REX ORANGE COUNTY
Photos + Review by Lewis Roberts | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!