Darren Criss

Many people are probably wondering who Darren Criss is. All you fans of Glee would know him as Blaine Anderson but before Glee hit out screens Darren was a YouTube phenomenon and famous for playing the role of Harry Potter in ‘A Very Potter Musical’- a musical based on Harry Potter.

Darren composed and performed most of the songs in the musical; he has such an amazing musical talent as well as being able to play the guitar, piano and drums with perfect vocals.

Darren embarked on his two night mini concert this week at both The Borderline and The Garage both situated in London.

Those of you expecting it to be another Glee show with him as Blaine are completely wrong as this is a completely different side to him as Darren is nothing like his character Blaine in Glee. This is Darren as himself performing songs from his EP Human which was released back in 2007 along with his acoustic cover of `Teenage Dream’.

I, only knowing him from Glee was thinking it would be him as Blaine. Boy was I wrong! Me and my friend queued for four hours meeting fellow ‘Starkids’ – (Darren’s fan club) along the way. One girl even travelled all the way from Dublin in Ireland while others camped out over night so they could get a good spot. Now that’s what you call dedication!

I had four hours (it seems like a long time but isn’t) to learn Darren’s songs from ‘A Very Potter Musical’ and some others which I thought was going to be hard but it helped when everyone in the queue was signing along to them too. I managed it and was singing along to every song.

Darren emerged in his signature pink sunglasses opening the show with ‘I Still Think’ a song off of his EP, Human and closing the show with ‘Got To Get Back To Hogwarts’ a song from ‘A Very Potter Musical’.

Whether in big venues like the O2 or small intimate venues such as yesterdays show at The Borderline Darren never fails to disappoint, getting the crowd cheering along and wanting more!

All in all an amazing concert and I wish I could do it all over again!

Reviewer: Emily Pontin