Brighton Centre
Thursday 1st June 2006
reviewed by Cars
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How wrong was I? They were fantastic! I couldn't think more highly of them if I tried! Okay, so they did mime on a couple of the faster tracks but when they did sing live I was surprised at how good they sounded.
First things first though - I had no idea who the support band Frank were, until my friends enlightned me. Thankfully it wasn't anything to do with Bruno, they are from a TV show about a pop band. So think less Monkees & more S Club 7 for them. They were pretty good at what they did though even if one of them did look old enough to be the others Mother. I was far too excited by the fact that we were 6 rows from the front to care what they sounded like anyway.
The show started very theatrically with a mad professor running around onstage creating a girl band. One by one pictures appeared of the girls followed by a few snippets of info (did you know Nadine is scared of dogs? Someone nasty would say that could be a problem if she ever has to sit next to Cheryl on the tour bus). Anyway all of a sudden we're told the professor has overloaded the potion then bang! Out pop GA in white Scientist coats to the sound of Biology. This is surely one of the best pop songs of this decade? Just when you think it couldn't get any cooler off come the coats & it's into the My Sharona rip off No Good Advice.
Throughout there were many costume changes (all of which can be seen in the pics from the gig), many sickly "thank yous", each taking it in turn to speak, but more importantly there are many classic pop tunes! I really think GA are extremely underated. They have a far better back catalogue than Spice Girls ever did & are the one & only reason that Louis Walsh shouldn't be shot for crimes to the ears.
Last tour they covered Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus (I know 'cos it was on telly Boxing Day!). This year it was Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot. Now with KC being one of my favourite bands right now & with that song being a modern day classic I was a little wary. However it was great. Bless them they even changed the line with condom in it to "uh oh". Rather ironic when they were wearing next to nothing in the following costume change but the thought was there at least.
A few things struck us throughout the gig. One being just how many pictures can one man take on his phone (again see pics page for Chris' multitude of photos), another that all jokes aside about Cheryl she really is exceptionally pretty. More than any of us gave her credit for, she with Nadine also holds the band together in terms of dancing & singing. The others are way behind those two. The third is that you would think Nicola was working in a sweat shop, not dancing onstage in a pop band. Between us we spotted 2 smiles I believe & one of those could well have been wind. Lastly as much as I enjoyed the night & as much as I said all jokes aside Cheryl Tweedy should never ever be allowed to rap again. Think finger nails down chalk board & you'd be a quarter of the way there to knowing how excrutitatimg it was).
To summerise as I've said before it was great. You couldn't really fault the set list, they played all their singles, bar one, did a great entrance, had a good encore. What more could you want?
10 out of 10
Setlist:
Biology
No Good Advice
Waiting
Love Machine
Long Hot Summer
Whole Lotta History
Watch Me Go
I Predict A Riot
See The Day
Sound Of The Underground
Musicals Medley (Fame /Flashdance/Foot Loose)
The Show
(Intro) Models
Racy Lacey
I'll Stand By You
Biology(reprise)
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Wake Me Up
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