What a fucking night. One of the best gigs of my
life.
I first came across the ’Babes when I was like 8 years old and was obsessed with Round Round through Singstar. I would always pick that track and remember finding the song and the video just utterly enthralling. What a fucking bop sung by these intriguing and kinda
strange women. It was so vastly different to the Steps and the S Club 7 that I was used to. I harboured a secret love for them for years, buying my Mum their CDs after she showed a vague interest in them just so I could have them in the house. When they reunited as MKS, I
quite literally came out the closet for them so I could see them at Brighton Pride, because I thought well if I’m gonna go to a Brighton Pride I may as well come out the bloody closet then. I saw the MKS tour in the October of my first year at Uni, the first gig I went to with friends and without my parents and as my authentic gay self and when I finally felt happy. What a simple and powerful joy to finally love the music I had always loved outwardly and unabashedly, and it was Sugababes that were there to experience this joy alongside me. The love I harbour for these girls is astronomical.
So, the gig. It was honestly fucking crazy. Seeing them headline a massive London festival with 40,000 people screaming along to every word on a gorj summers night is exactly how Sugababes deserve to perform every time. The girls slipped back into performance mode so fucking professionally - you can tell Mutya and Keisha can do this with their eyes closed. God bless Siobhan she did amazing but you could see she maybe had a touch of nerves. In fairness, might this be the biggest crowd Siobhan Donaghy has ever performed to? I know Mutya and Keisha have had some big gigs in their time, but maybe someone else knows whether 1.0 ever did anything of this size? The vocals were amazing across the board - Siobhan sounded so at home on so many of the tracks, and it’s always cute the cheers she gets when she’s singing one of the parts that wasn’t originally hers. I hope she felt the love. But Keisha was the vocal star I think. Her power to absolutely
devour an ad-lib like a Thanksgiving dinner is unmatched. She literally
ate, to rapturous applause everytime. She just knows how to get the gays going and how to get the job done!
And
what a fucking back catalogue. It was hit after damn hit. I was gasping for breath after the opening trifecta of Push / Overload / Hole, like wow. And About You Now was an absolute
scream. Honestly I respect it. Do your fucking thing girls and know your audience. After all these years you’ve earned the right to sing whatever you wanna fucking sing. An absolutely
mammoth song that was a joy to hear sung by 40,000 people. And the band made it sound like it fit alongside all of their other hits. And Today ! I screamed! The people around me where asking what it was and I was screaming along to every word. Is it unrealistic of me to assume they’ve got the album back? What would be the point of reviving it if not for its eventual release? The only track that I felt was missing was Ugly. She would have fit perfectly after Caught In A Moment, and surely would have gone down a storm.
Also, the budget for my three mums! I was kinda just expecting them to be on the stage with not much else, but the band and the lights and the set …. it was giving cash. Someone has injected cash into the Sugababes machine and I am delighted to see it.
But yes, what a fucking show. I love these three women so much, and I really hope this kick-starts their resurgence.