Review: X Factor Live Tour at Birmingham LG Arena

X Factor Live Tour,

Birmingham LG?Arena

Fireworks, carnival colours and zipwires whizzing performers out over the crowd. It can only mean one thing – the X Factor circus was back in town.

The excitement at Birmingham's LG Arena was palpable as thousands of fans swarmed through the foyer of the NEC wearing T-shirts declaring: "I've got the X Factor".

And from the mom-ent comeback girl Amelia Lily stepped on stage to open the show, the screams just got louder.

It was runner-up Marcus Collins who truly stole the show, parading and shimmying around the stage like a seasoned pro and winning the biggest cheers of the night.

By comparison, winners Little Mix have apparently still not managed to overcome that pesky problem of being chronically unable to harmonise.

Winners Little Mix performed Christina Aguilera's Beautiful and a cover of Nicki Minaj's Superbass before being hooked onto wires which flew them across the crowd to sing Katy Perry's ET and finishing off with winners' single Cannonball.

Lindsey Harris, of Rowley Regis, was there with her eight-year-old daughter Madison. "She was really pleased when they won," she said.

The ever-entertaining Kitty put on the kind of powerful dramatics she became known for during her stint on the show, opening the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams pinned to a firework-spewing spinning wheel.

Craig Colton showed off his new slimline figure and Misha B wowed, but Janet Devlin, sporting straight hair, looked pale and worryingly ill as she meandered her way through performances which belied the talent she had initially shown.

By Charlotte Cross.