Lionel Lights up the Chepstow Sky to Keep us Dancing ‘All Night Long’

What a night it was for live music fans as we were given a masterclass of a show from LIONEL RICHIE who came to Chepstow Racecourse on Friday night (June 30th) to start a weekend of incredible live music.

The international superstar brought his sensational live set to the town with fans enjoying a mix of party hits and some of his classic love songs, including a few Commodores favourites from back in the day..

We spent the evening meeting some of the thousands of Lionel fans, many of which had seen him countless times over the years and were clearly excited he was playing right on their doorstep.

Mandy Saviour and husband Alan have had their tickets since the moment they went on sale, they told us….

“We’ve seen Lionel before – brilliant by the way, but we’ve always had to travel. Having him play so close to home is so good for us.

I’ve got all the Lionel stuff at home as well, in fact I had a nice cuppa from my Lionel mug before we left the house, and of course I had a little Rich Tea biscuit to go with it. Well, you got to haven’t you?”

John Sale Price clearly had a great time in the ‘festival’ atmosphere, he said…….

“Phew – a whirlwind of an afternoon, trekking to Chepstow Racecourse to have a real taste of a festival atmosphere. It was a real treat because I watched three acts I really like. Gabrielle was brilliant. Sugababes were fantastic. And Lionel Richie sure knows how to fire up a crowd, he’d have done it all night long, given the chance…

Yes, got drenched to begin with (I mean, of all the dry days we’ve had in June, I’d attend a gig on the month’s wettest day) and it took aaaages to get out of car park afterwards (blending drunks and impatient drivers isn’t a good mix!).

But it’s a day/evening I will remember very fondly.”

It did feel like a mini festival in a day with some incredible support from SUGABABES, GABRIELLE and KEVIN DAVY WHITE.

It was a real moment for Gabrielle as this week marks the 30th anniversary of her debut single ‘Dreams’ hitting the top spot in the charts. It went in at #2 initially and, within a week, climbed to become her first #1. As you can imagine it was a real fan favourite and sounded as fresh in the rain as it did back then.

Kevin opened the show and while we remembered his appearance on X Factor all those years ago, it was easy to see how his fan base is building right across the world.

As for Sugababes it was literally hit after hit as the trio brought a blinding set to the South Wales stage, with ‘Lost In You‘ from the movie Love Actually and the classic ‘Push The Button‘ getting fans ready for our headline act.

When Lionel took to the stage just before 9:30, the rain may have been coming down, but no one cared. We wanted to party and Lionel brought a catalogue of hits which kept us going right through his show-stopping set.

From all of his classic solo hits such as ‘All Night Long‘, ‘Dancing on the Ceiling‘ and ‘Hello‘, to the old Commodores favourites ‘Easy (Like Sunday Morning)‘, ‘Three Times A Lady‘ and a version of ‘Brick House‘ which had everyone dancing and singling along.

You can look back on our original Lionel feature HERE.

The music doesn’t stop there. We’ll be back to do it all over again on Sunday night when Gold Rush Kid GEORGE EZRA comes to town. We’ve seen George play live many times and can tell you we’re in for one hell of a party. Make sure you’re there nice and early to catch his special guest, TikTok breakthrough star, triple BRIT Awards 2023 nominee, and now Glastonbury favourite CAT BURNS.

Find out more about the show, check out our five George facts, and get ticket information in our special feature HERE.