The Pop Party at Lighthouse Poole Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Helen O

I’m always looking for a new and fun way to entertain my 6 year old son in the school summer holidays, so I jumped at the chance when we were given the opportunity to go along to The Pop Party at Lighthouse Poole, this afternoon as it is billed as an ‘exhilarating live concert, made especially for kids’.

We were seated right at the end of row J of the Theatre in Lighthouse Poole, which afforded us a decent view of all the action on the stage. There was a basic stage set up, featuring a single deck stage, some lighting and two very large inflatable beach balls.

It wasn’t long before we were introduced to Yasmin, Roxy, Bobby and Grayson, our hosts for the afternoon, as they burst onto stage, full of energy, singing and dancing along to ‘Cake by the Ocean’ by DNCE. I was a little concerned, as the first performance was a little pitchy (although 100% better than I could have done personally!) However, I’m pleased to report that things definitely improved as the performance went on.

After a few more songs, including a couple of Little Mix favourites, there was an opportunity for audience participation with two children and their adults invited onto the stage to have a kids v adults dance off. Fair play to the adults, they certainly gave their all, which is exactly what was needed to keep the party momentum going.

My son was super-excited when the large inflatable beach balls were brought out and thrown into the audience with the intention of being bounced to the back of the theatre. Unfortunately, they never veered off to very ends of the rows, so he was left a little disappointed (and sulky) not to have been able to get involved. Which was further compounded by the fact that towards the end of the show, four smaller LED inflatable balls were chucked into the audience, but they remained very much in the centre and he didn’t manage to get his hands on them again. It’s probably something to bear in mind for future shows, given the average age of the audience and how easily they get disappointed.

We particularly enjoyed the rendition of George Ezra’s Green Green Grass, which saw the audience split in half and each side of the theatre was taught different dance moves to join in with the song.

As everyone in the audience was seated, although there was lots of encouragement from the guys on stage, to get up and dance & sing along, often the audience remained seated. However, after the interval, we were treated to a touch of Beyoncé, with Texas Hold’ Em and also a Taylor Swift Medley for all the Swifties in the audience. Both of these sections saw the majority of the audience up and dancing along, which was great.

The show was just short of 1 hour 45 minutes, including a 15 minute interval, which allowed a quick refreshment and comfort break for the audience. I definitely think the length was pitched right, given the average age of the audience.

I was impressed to see the energy maintained on stage by Bobby, Grayson, Roxy and Yasmin throughout their performance. At no point did the energy levels dip and they even ventured outside following their performance, to meet their audience, which was a nice touch.

The show has an age guidance of being suitable for children of 4 years+, which I think is about right too. There were a lot of youngsters, especially girls, who were in their element at this Pop Party.

There is as ticket price from £18 each which I would say is about average for an activity such as this. It’s good value if you have a little pop diva on your hands and is a great way of spending some quality family time together.

The Pop Party was performing at Lighthouse Poole for today only, but they currently have a number of tour dates throughout the UK.

Rating: 3.5/5

RRP – Tickets from £18 each

Buy tickets here: https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/pop-party/

Address: Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG