Reviewed by Herald Scotland
Jonathan Geddes
The Saturdays visit to Glasgow in February was a lacklustre affair, hindered by a less than dynamic stage show, but their first arena jaunt thankfully offered rather more.
Beginning with the fivesome popping out of a lift, there was more pizzazz to the stage set-up with their opening gambit a cross between Mad Men chic and skimpy secretarial gear.
With the addition of impressively athletic dancers and a backing band, the show certainly possessed a bigger, snazzier feel, even if the dance routines still consisted of shimmying and straddling aplenty.
Such obvious raunch may have put off a few parents in attendance, or made them peer closer in the case of some dads, but the greater detriment in an overlong set was an over-reliance on blaringingly loud electro pop.
A few too many songs weren’t catchy enough to stand out as pristine pop, and didn’t possess enough rhythm to pass as a clubbing call to arms, reaching a nadir on the aimless noise of Do What You Want With Me and The Way You Watch Me.
Despite an overall slickness, the girls proved a little bland, rarely projecting themselves, save a touch of banter from Una Healy about her baby bump, and Vanessa White’s consistently strong-lunged efforts. Yet several tunes hit the mark resoundingly, from Ego’s impressively uplifting pop to a booming Forever Is Over and the undeniably hummable Higher, while Missing You provided that pop rarity, a decent ballad.
An encore of dubiously practical Santa outfits, fake snow and a cover of Winter Wonderland may have been cheesy, but it was accomplished adequately and cheerfully, and the same was true of a show that touched all the pop bases just enough.
HHH