Matthew Hussey Live at the O2

This afternoon I stood in the O2, surrounded by 1500 single women.  The entire crowd was bouncing, waving their hands in the air, and well and truly rocking out to Pink’s song ‘Raise Your Voice’.  It was without doubt one of the most unified moments of ‘single London’ I’ve ever felt.  These women were single, and proud.  An army of women, openly in search of THE guy, but also completely entranced with one particular man.  Matt Hussey.  A man who captured their attention for six whole hours.  No breaks, no pauses.

Matt Hussey is a life coach, and one of the biggest names in dating worldwide.  Arguably, he’s bigger in the States than in his native England … the British accent definitely helps!  But saying that, today’s event was the largest he’s ever run, and many in the crowd had flown in from all over Europe to hear him speak.

I’m not going to lie … I didn’t want to like the event!  From afar, it all seemed too contrived.  Like a female form of Pick Up Artistry.  In the lead up, I saw him as an odd guru-type.  The promotional pictures showed women screaming and dancing, and it almost looked like an odd religious gathering!  And yet … I did like it.  And above all … I liked him.

The thing about being a successful dating expert, is that if you’re audience is female and you’re female, you need to be approachable.  You need to be the type of person they want to befriend.  If you’re male, however, you need to be attractive.  For a male dating expert to succeed, you need to be the type of guy that women are attracted to.  And Matt has that in spades.  As I watched him on stage, I tried to imagine some of the older, less attractive dating experts I know delivering the same advice, and it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful.  Matt Hussey is attractive, charasmatic, and incredibly funny.  But above all … he understands women.  And that is the key to success.  Yes, he’s talking about attracting men, but it’s women who he needs to understand.

The event kicks off his #MatthewHusseyLive tour, and took place at the Indigo Room at the O2.  Priced between £18 and £28 a ticket, depending on where you bought the ticket, I got the impression he wouldn’t have made much profit from the event – it was all about profile launching and PR.  Hussey also runs retreats around the world, which have a very dedicated female following (yes, slightly religious guru like!!).  It’s a family affair, with his Dad introducing him, and Mum and brothers amongst the volunteers showing people to their seats.  And the event was not without its flaws.  Organisation on the day wasn’t great – the VIP meet and greet began over an hour later than planned, and guests struggled to get near Matt.  Queues for the box office pick-up were so huge that the show began half an hour late, and the introduction by his Dad was too long, and unnecessary.

Six hours is an awfully long time for a dating event, especially without any breaks.  If you needed the loo you had to squeeze out of your row, and we sat eating our packed lunch in our seats, like we were on a school trip.  And there were some unnecessarily long sections, which went on far too long.  For instance, Matt took five minutes telling us why he doesn’t like the film Love Actually, and we spent a good ten minutes dancing every time we were allowed up out of our seats.

Having said that, I really enjoyed the event and really like Matt.  His messages – mainly related to confidence and self worth were powerful and true.  He gave advice in a way which was approachable and confident, but not patronising, and he genuinely understood his audience.  He mixed up the day, by bringing people up on stage and using visual examples and role play.  He asked people for real life examples and had interractions with the crowd, and was quick thinking and witty.  Energy is a word which he uses a lot, and he is full of it.  It’s clear he’s passionate about what he tells women, and he believes it.  Which is great.  As far as dating advice goes, it was one of the best events I’ve ever been to.  It simply should have been shorter.  The actual practical advice was quite sparse and spread out, and the annecdotes and elaboration dragged on a bit.  It was clear he wanted to give people their money’s worth, but for £28 a ticket, I think 2-3 hours would have been fine, especially on a Saturday afternoon.  I have to admit, I left 2 hours before the end.

It was great to see so many single women, of all ages, backgrounds and shapes and sizes, embracing their confidence and single status, and feeling genuinely empowered.  However, unfortunately after I left it apparently turned really culty 😦 Every positive thing Matt had spun during the afternoon was then used to persuade vulnerable women to part with up to £2,500, to attend a ‘Retreat’ with Matt.  Forms were handed around, and singletons were encouraged to sign up there and then, with the incentive of the first 50 getting to go up on stage and get a hug and a photo with Matt.  According to my friend Alexi, who stayed to watch the show until the end, over 150 girls ran towards the stage.  You can read his hilarious write-up of the show, including the sad, negative bits which I missed HERE on the Time Out ‘Now Here This Blog’.

 

Miss Twenty-Nine xxx