Gurdas Maan, Arena Birmingham - review

So when Gurdas Maan brought his four-date UK tour to Birmingham on Saturday night, it was clear the crowd were in the presence of music royalty.

With his trademark tambourine in tow and donning his traditional Indian gladrags, Maan opened with nothing short of a riot of applause which ricocheted across Arena Birmingham.

Within seconds, diehard devotees of the musical maestro bounced onto their feet, and even the youngest of fans were bopping along in bliss.

An 11-man band in slick navy suits helped boost Maan’s nostalgic records to their former glory, with Dil Da Mamla Hai certainly a crowd favourite. The 1980 blockbuster debut hit smashed records worldwide and launched Maan’s undeniable rise to global stardom.

Sharing inspirational insights and thought-provoking messages throughout his set, Maan never failed to reveal his humble side and even called on technical teams to turn up the lights in the arena so he could see the crowd’s “reaction to his actions”. Not to mention, the gig started 30 minutes behind schedule to let latecomers scramble to their seats.

Bottles of bubbles dished out to incoming revellers also played their part during the second-half of the show, with the entire arena asked to blow their floating shapes into the air as a trio of lucky youngsters took to the stage - a first at any Asian concert.

Watching the star perform the iconic Apna Punjab Hove is really what dreams are made of, and if you weren’t already on your feet before, you certainly were now. A Dance Cam scouting across the arena then captured the most unsuspecting movers and shakers but the crown for the dance floor King was by far Maan himself.

It may have seemed like organised chaos to the unsuspecting and unfamiliar, but the high-energy spectacle was nothing short of a quintessential Indian jamboree.

Maan wanted to ‘bring everyone together’, and the living legend of the Punjabi music industry did just that and so much more.