Craig David at the O2 Arena, London, gig review: Back and better than ever

Craig David performs live on stage at the O2 Arena on March 25, 2017 in London (Getty)

Believe the hype: as comebacks go Craig David has well and truly delivered, and not only is he back, he is genuinely better than ever.

Rolling into the first of two nights at London’s O2 Arena for his anticipated ‘Following my Intuition Tour’ - dressed in white and with an impressive backdrop - he opens with the aptly titled ‘Ain’t Giving Up’ following up with classics ‘What’s Your Flava’ and ‘Fill Me In’.

The sight of the sold out O2 Arena is clearly just as overwhelming for him as it is for fans: “Let’s turn this evening into a rave”, he shouts.

An on-point cover of Justin Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’ stars the audience as some 20,000 backing singers, while ‘Don’t Love you No More (I’m Sorry)’ and all-time favourite ‘7 Days’ keep the party atmosphere going until ‘Re-Wind’, with Artful Dodger taking us into a TS5 set.

Gig turns to club night at this point as he segues into an old school garage and hip-hop medley featuring the likes of Sweet Female Attitude, TLC, Sean Paul and even Dr Dre.

Craig David is back, and this time he’s here to stick around.