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He truly shut down Birmingham. It was a great night.

Ikky started at exactly 8pm and his set was very good. A great mix of old Punjabi songs with western music, which was a great way to get the crowd hyped. Morni was a great way to close it off.

Karan came on just before 9pm and he was awesome. The show was split into 3 acts, opening with MF Gabhru, which was an awesome way to start.

Act 2 was real damn good too. He opened it with On Top and literally came out at the top of the arena on a zip line. Diljit did something similar in 2022 when he went up to the top of the arena in a box, but Karan took it a step further with a cable harness that let him travel all across the arena. Easily the best moment of the night.

Karan took two breaks across the show. After about 28 minutes he took a 7 minute break out of nowhere. The first break was very abrupt and deffo killed the mood. Ikky played Sifar Safar and a couple of Karan's new songs from his EP while the screens showed the crowd (P-Pop TV style). No one knew what was happening, and I was confused whether Karan was actually taking a break or just lip syncing this bit.

The second break (around 10.10pm) was still abrupt, but it was one of the best parts of the concert. It was about 2-4 minutes of Bhangra with all the classics playing, and it set the scene well for act 3, which was mainly a Bhangra segment. Energy was high and the crowd deffo turned up for it.

My main complain would be the stage. The stage was very basic and the exact same setup as 2024. I had floor tickets (front row of Section G), which should've been a great view, but people kept getting in the way. I could mostly see Karan, but the screens were what let me see him properly.

People complained about Diljit's UK tour stage this time, but I feel like Karan is getting let off. He deffo should've extended the stage, or gone with a centre stage (like Diljit in 2024) or a B stage, so floor sections could see him easier. Drake did this really well by wrapping the stage around the side of the floor so he could walk around it and people could move and see him at all times (will post a picture in the comments).

Tbh I don't really get why certain desi events opt for floor seats. It makes sense for older artists like Gurdas Maan, or Sartaaj, Arijit Singh, Shreya Ghoshal etc, who may have an older audience that doesn't dance as much. But for Diljit and Karan it's counterintuitive. No one is sitting in their seat, and most people (including me) with floor tickets are gonna try to get as close to the stage as possible.

The dancers all did a great job, and the lighting and pyro were good too, but kinda expected for an arena show (I felt like Diljit’s lighting was way better but I might just be that because I was seated in a mid section seating allowing me to see the entirety of Wembley as opposed to having floor seats for Birmingham).

Ikky didn't get on stage much this time. I know a couple of sub members didn't like him coming on, but I didn't mind it. It was neither a positive nor a negative for me. He ended on Gangsta, which was hype.

I liked the three acts and the breaks as interludes, but he could've designed the set list better so each act felt more linked to its songs. I did like how much he changed the order of songs from 2024, which created good variation (unlike Diljit, where it's now kinda predictable when he'll sing certain songs).

Vocally Karan was good. Nothing special, but it didn't need to be because the vibe was so good. There were once or twice where I felt he needed help from the backing track to catch a breath. It was basically a two hour party.

Imo Diljit is still the GOAT Punjabi performer. Vocally he's on a completely different level and sang the whole show flawlessly without leaning on his backing vocals. I saw a reel of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan singing Sanson Ki Mala Pe recently and my immediate thought was that Diljit sang it way better. Even u/Dil_Da_Ni_Maada (iykyk 👀) agreed.

I also think people have unreasonable demands from Diljit's shows now. I've seen people complain he came out at 8.45pm in Birmingham and Manchester, even though that's always roughly when he comes out. Karan started just before 9pm and no one complained.

Overall I’d rate the concert a 8.5/10. The show itself wasn't a massive upgrade from his 2024 show, except for On Top with the cable.

Points are only deducted for the basic stage setup and the abruptness of the first break, but that's massively excused by how good the concert itself was. Would deffo see him again for a third time.

Official Trailer for the Signed to God Hologram Tour

This song right here… is way too underrated. One of my favourite Diljit songs of this decade. It has such a great late night r&b vibe and Diljit’s vocals were great.

Thiarajxtt’s production was really good and the lyrics were good as well. Tbh, Ghost was an under-appreciated album. It had a great concept that got overshadowed by the big hits of the album (Case, Lalkara & Kinni Kinni).

Hot take, but I have this album over GOAT. The tracklist is just more consistently good imo and the concept does a lot of heavy lifting (don’t really get too many concept Panjabi albums tbh).

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