Review by Craven Gossip
Last night we put on our glad rags, and headed over to the Hammersmith Apollo to see Vanessa, Mollie, Frankie, Rochelle and Una, aka The Saturdays, take to the stage for the London leg of their Headlines Tour.
Now, we are slightly biased when it comes to The Saturdays. We are fans. We remember seeing them supporting Girls Aloud and wanting big things for them. So as we headed to Hammersmith we were quite excited!
Looking around the venue, you notice the audience ranges from young fans to early twenties, and with the girls having family and friends in – including Chipmunk and former S Club Juniors Jay Asforis and Aaron Renfree, there was a definte buzz around.
Kicking off with Higher the tour got off to a fantastic start. We were then treated to songs from their latest album ‘Headlines’ as well as all of the singles, including If This Is Love, Work and Just Can’t Get Enough. One of the highlights is the Rihanna medley – Love The Way You Lie, What’s My Name, Only Girl (In The World) – which the girls manage to pull off effortlessly.
Several costime changes and VT’s later, the girls finish with Forever Is Over, Missing You and Ego.
So what did we think? We love The Saturdays. And they are the most succesful UK girl group releasing in the UK at the minute. But there were some things missing that would have taken the show from good to brilliant. The set is very basic. It is effectively a stage, with two moving staircases. There were no dancers, and every tour should have dancers, it adds to the visual spectacle of the show. But quite possibly the biggest thing missing? Ticker tape. Every tour ever has always had ticker tape fall in the final song of a show. And The Saturdays had none.
But all this can be summed up with one simple explanation. Money. The tour felt like it had been done on a budget. We’ve already said, the girls are most succesful UK girl group releasing in the UK at the minute. It’s not that they should expect to have money put into them and their tour, they deserve it! Vocally the girls are all brilliant, with Denial, issues and Died In Your Eyes clearly showcasing their vocals. In fact, and I imagine I’ll get abuse for saying this, but the girls could easily outsing Girls Aloud. They make great pop songs. So why haven’t they had the success they deserve?
All in all, the show is good, but with another tour being announced for December, we hope that they are given the support to make it great.