Kidz Bop is a global phenomenon. Having started a quarter of a century ago, their list of notable alumni includes Zendaya, Ross Lynch, Becky G, Olivia Holt and Fin Argus. Their success is so huge that they have generated over 4.5 billion streams and have grown from just the American group to boasting numerous international offshoots. While the British group was founded back in 2017 and regularly tours in this country, their US counterparts have taken to the road and headed across the ocean for their Certified Bop Tour.

As they arrive in Birmingham at the Symphony Hall for the second night of their UK leg, the audience of excited youngsters steadily fills the stunning building. The Kidz Bop DJ takes the stage 15 minutes before the scheduled start at 6pm.

With Aleah, Cliff, Mikey and Shila forming Kidz Bop for the night, the colourful screens welcome them ontostage for the tour's title song, Certified Bop. The young performers are in fine voice and have all the moves as they work through a set that includes covers of Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa, Benson Boone and Taylor Swift.

As the young audience launch themselves wholeheartedly into the set, the charming performers bound around the stage with high fives aplenty for the audience members at the front and waves for those at the back.

Numerous moments of audience interaction kept the young audience permanently engaged. From a brief interlude for the Daddy Dance Off (which featured a surprise appearance from myself as Daddy #4 – with delighted screams from my own two children as I danced to victory!) to the voting for the next song (my thrilled pair were delighted when Olivia Rodrigo's Vampire won!), this is a show that knows its audience and delivers thrill after thrill.

Very few children's groups achieve this notoriety of Kidz Bop, and it's clear why. This is a well-oiled machine that is based on talent and enjoyment, and children (and their parents) leave a show full of smiles.

A very enjoyable evening.


Kidz Bop appear in Manchesster tonight. Other tour dates and venues can be found here