Young Voices concert at The O2 London 2022

Oh my goodness…oh. My. Goodness! WOW! I’m still slightly speechless and also beyond proud of our little one singing, as part of her school choir, in this year’s Young Voices concert at The O2 London this week. At… the actual O2 Arena. I know!!! It’s mind boggling. 

Young Voices concert at The O2 London 2022

The Young Voices concerts (there are quite a few to accommodate all the school choirs) were postponed a few times earlier in the year due to the dreaded C word, so naturally there was a huge amount of anticipation and excitement leading up to this week. The day finally did arrive and the school choir headed to The O2 Arena to fit in some last second practice before their evening performance. *Leaving mums and dads free to travel at leisure to the venue later in the day – take full advantage of this (see tips below).

As Young Voices concert virgins, I have to secretly admit that I had no idea what to expect. With the show being a huge 2 hours long, I did wonder if they would perform a little set, and then we would be left sitting dutifully, listening to all the other school choirs…. But no. It was nothing like that. It was incredible. 

This was immersive, entertaining, emotional and just like a mini concert. All the school choirs sang together, and this was mixed in with the most incredible performances from Ruti, The Beatbox Collective, Connie Talbot, Nick Shirm and Urban Strides street dance crew.

Here’s a snippet of Ruti singing Lovely Day with the kids, and also The Beatbox Collective. I didn’t do it justice with my clips, but I think it captures the spirit of the evening somewhat.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Annette, 3 Little Buttons (@3littlebuttonsblog)

Yay! 

7 top tips for next year’s Young Voices concert

In case you’ve yet to go, or like us, you’ll be doing this again next year, here are a few of our top tips to make the day even better (if that’s possible).

1. Book the day off work and make a day of it.

Looking back I really wish we’d done this. The kids left midday from school and headed directly to The O2. So, that meant we could have travelled up early and done something at The O2, like bowling, caught an early movie, or eaten out at one of the fab restaurants there. 

2. Travel as lightly as possible. 

Absolutely resist the urge to bring anything other than a small handbag and your jacket. I hadn’t realised at the time, but backpacks are not allowed inside The 02 Arena. Luckily my Mia Tui Maya backpack did pass and I could bring it in, but there were others in our group that were forced to store their backpacks in an outside storage area and at quite a cost too.

3. No drinks at all, not even water.

Are you the parent that always has a bottle of water and a pack of tissues on them, just in case? Me too!!  But, in this case, to avoid embarrassment at the security checks, ditch the water and any food before you join the queue. I wasn’t the only one to have their bottle of water (loudly) thrown in the bin in front of everyone *cringe. But don’t worry, you can purchase water once you’re through the checkpoints. *Food too.

4. Queue early!

With all those little ones in the choir’s there was bound to be a huge audience coming to watch! And so, be prepared for the BIG queues to get in. We weren’t, and sat in Costa Coffee blissfully unaware of the building parent snake like queues. Ekk!!! 

5. Toilets in The O2

You’d think that the toilets in The O2 would be pretty big. Think again. The queues were huge and out the doors. So, make sure you leave plenty of time to nip to the loo before going into the arena or you’ll be crossing your legs and cursing like a trooper.

6. Toilets in The O2 Arena

Once through the security checkpoint, there were actually loads of loos and no queues! Hooray!!! However!!!!! Under no circumstances should you leave it till the end of the concert to ‘nip to the loo’. At this point, I couldn’t work out which was the queue to leave The Arena and which was the one for the toilets!!! It was crackers. Instead, plan to pop out maybe 15 mins before the end, and you’ll be in and out in a flash 🙂

7. The little ones top tip – wear trousers

Our little one’s school choir allows the girls to wear the uniform skirt or trousers. Little Button stated that trousers would have been a MUCH better option, not only for the day, but also the journey back home on the Tube too. Noted for next year!  

If you have a little one thinking about joining the school choir, or even thinking about performing with their choir in one of the Young Voices concerts – it’s an amazing experience that will last a lifetime. Absolutely go for it!