Here Come The Girls - Anastacia, Lulu and Chaka Khan

Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Thu 17th Dec 2009

Glizty dresses, sparkle, joviality, dancing, big hair, big voices - this is what Here Come The Girls is all about. And Thursday night saw what can only be described as Birmingham’s biggest ever Hen Party atmosphere grace the stage of the majestic Symphony Hall with Lulu, Chaka Khan and the mighty Anastacia topping the bill.

The beautiful Symphony Hall is one of Birmingham’s classiest venues, which usually plays host to the CBSO, choirs and concerts performed by musicians from varied genres. But Thursday night just turned out to be one big party! This was helped along by the fact that the audience was 85% women, with the other 15% being men who had obviously been dragged along by their wives and partners!

The stage set was very basic, a few huge screens as the back drop and two sets of stairs. Surprisingly, there was no live band either – just cheesy backing tracks for huge stars to sing along to! Very disappointing!

That’s not to say that this ultimate girl’s night wasn’t a big hit with everyone though as the audience clapped cheered and whooped along to every track. Lulu, Chaka Khan and Anastacia entertained for near on two hours, belting out hit after hit. Motown and disco medleys were on the agenda, including hits ‘I’m Every Woman’, ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’, ‘Soulman’, ‘Little Respect’.

The show was at it’s finest when each artist showcased their own talent and sang songs from their own back catalogue. Lulu with ‘Shout’ which was one of the highlights of the night and Anastacia with ‘Left Outside Alone’. Chaka Khan’s performance was forgettable and if I’m honest I found her voice annoying and piercing at times, even putting my fingers in my ears when she hit the high notes.

After each medley there seemed to be a break, but hardly any costume changes. Perhaps it was because Lulu and Chaka are getting on a bit and needed to rest in between each song. I’m not sure but there seemed no explanation for it! At one point Chaka Khan did get changed and ending up looking like a plum on legs with a delightful number stretched all over her body parts!

Whilst the stars of the show kept disappearing they left us with a straggle of dancers prancing on stage with poor choreography and obviously huge egos! Don’t get me wrong they were good at what they did and the Jackson Medley they strutted to was superb, but in essence I was here to see the Three Powerhouse’s vocally entertain.

All in all Anastacia stole the show, allowing the individuality of her voice to shine through. She blew everyone away with her performance. ‘I’m Outta Love’ and ‘One Day in Your Life’ were worth their weight in gold and made the ticket prices entirely bearable!

It was also a nice touch that Anastacia actually took time out of the performance to acknowledge her army of fans that made up most of the crowd. The front row seeped with die hard fans, even getting on her knees during the show to sign autographs at the front of the stage, making one fan ecstatically happy.

My partner described the whole spectacle as ‘Here Come the Grannies’ and I think she was right! Chaka Khan at times found it hard to keep up with the pace, even forgetting the words and dance steps. Lulu was much better, but the vocals were a bit off at times. If it hadn’t been for Anastacia the show would’ve been a wash out!

All in all the night was the start to the Christmas period and everyone went away happy and all geed up for Xmas.

All I can say is thank god for Anastacia!

article by: Michelle Owen-Williams

published: 23/12/2009 08:50



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