Review: Bananarama – The Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Bananarama are one of those groups that seem to have been around my whole life. That’s probably because they near enough have,

Whether you grew up with the early Jolley and Swain sounds of Shy Boy and Cruel Summer in the early 80’s or the later synth pop Stock Aitken and Waterman era, chances are, trailblazers of the girl band, Bananarama will have provided the soundtrack to your life at some point.

I can’t be the only one that copied the moves and sang into a hairbrush. We all wanted to be Siobhan, she was the rebel, yet it still came as a shock when she abruptly quit to form Shakespeare’s Sister and was replaced by Jacquie, before the trio had even ever had time to tour, having been catapulted to success with their cool image and catchy numbers.

So despite the fact that they’ve been around for four decades and they’re all now in their 50’s and looking fabulous, this is the first time the original line up have toured in the UK. A major selling point.

Warmed up by an on-stage DJ spinning classic 80’s hits, rather than a support act, from the moment Sara Dallin, Keren Woodward and Siobhan Fahey stepped on stage to the sounds of Nathan Jones the audience were on their feet, and like the aforementioned, we were all in agreement that they’d been gone too long.

SMLXL

All those dance moves I’d copied as a kid came to life in front of me in one non-stop party of a concert. They moved around more than I’d expected, compared to the likes of some of today’s pop acts dance routines, Bananarama were more about the arm movements, but the three vocalists moved around the stage and filled the concert hall with their presence.

Performing in front of a gigantic screen, and backed by a four-piece band, the trio were dressed in sparkling outfits, Shobian’s has a splash of red, it’s nice to see nothing changes.

Hit followed hit including Preacher Man, I Heard A Rumour, Venus, It Ain’t What You Do and a moving version of Siobhan’s hit, Stay.