Sugababes Change tour
at Bradford St George’s Hall
Monday 31st March 2008

The venue was small which made the whole show very special. To start the show a box with a white sheet over it appeared at the ceiling of the stage. The music started, it was the instrumental of Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music”. The band was situated left and right of the stage. There was a small rostrum like stage in front of a big screen. There was a screen which was longer in length than width. As the music played the box attached with strings began to lower to the stage floor. A dancer came out from underneath the sheet and began dancing in front of the box. Two other dancers came out and one danced next to the left side of the box and the other dancer danced right side of the box. The dancer in front of the box moved to the right and drew the audience’s attention to the box by moving her arm towards it. Then the white sheet rose and the sugababes were standing there. They were all posing; Keisha standing on the left had both hands on her hips. Amelle standing in the middle had one arm pointing upwards and held the mic with the other. Heidi standing on the right had one hand on her hip and her other arm was relaxing behind her head. All were wearing dresses that went in at the waist and had a rah-rah shirt look. Also a belt was worn around their waists. Keisha’s dress was orange, Amelle’s was Green and Heidi’s was blue. The music then went into their first song.

Hole in the Head
There was subtle choreography for this performance. In Keisha’s middle eight, after the lyrics “no more, no more”, Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music” instrumental was played whilst the sugababes carried on singing the rest of Hole in the Head. At the end of the performance they stood together centre stage.

Round Round
All three sugababes stood on the rostrum with microphone stands. This whole routine was performed with amazing chorography. The sugababes used the mic stands tilting them and slowly dipping to the floor next to them. In this routine three silhouettes were projected behind the girls on the big screen. It appeared to be the sugababes shadows, until the silhouettes started to do different chorography. This created a breath taking visual effect. Towards the end of the song the sugababes took off the first layer of their dresses (which were the colours they were wearing) to reveal black dresses with frilly rah-rah skirts. At the very end of the song they turned around and looked back at the audience over their shoulder.

Never Gonna Dance Again
Amelle introduced the song. This performance had cool chorography that really suited the sombre song. Being a big fan of this song and seeing this performance to go with it gave the whole song another positive dimension.

In The Middle
The sugababes wore silver jackets. They also wore skirts that looked like a half of a glitter ball. Abstract dancing was performed for this song. Some robotic type dancing was performed, also hip movements that drew attention to the skirts. The three dancers came on stage with small glitter balls. In Heidi’s part of the song the dancers came on stage and posed next to them. One dancer went on the floor and Heidi sat on her.

Ugly
Two pieces of set came on both sides of the stage. They were tall frames with the centre missing. During the song one dancer stood in each frame and posed appearing to check their hair and clothes, this created the illusion that they were looking into a mirror. The sugababes were wearing black robes with a bit of pink on them. Gentle swaying was done for the chorography of this song. At the end of the song the lights went off and the sugababes took off their robes.

Freak Like Me/Virgin Sexy
All the sugababes were wearing leopard print dresses. Heidi’s was pink, Amelle and Keisha’s were yellow. They started singing Freak Like Me. Little chorography was done, it appeared to be more natural dancing. Majority of the song was sung. After Heidi sang the lyrics “It’s all good for me”, the Freak Like Me music played and went into the Virgin Sexy music. They then took to the rostrum and performed Virgin Sexy with chorography. There was sexy dancing in this song; the sugababes touched the screen behind them as they winded their bodies. Heidi adlibbed the first, second and fourth lines of Keisha’s second verse. I really enjoyed this song, I thought it sounded better than the original studio version. I danced to this song and loved the fact that they added it to their set. Being an older album track it was nice to hear it as it rekindled nostalgia. They went back into Freak Like Me to end the song.

Back Down
They started the song on the rostrum and were joined by the dancers. The dancers helped the sugababes take off the leopard print layer of clothing to reveal black dresses. The dancers then added accessories on the sugababes. This included waist belts and gold necklaces. They came down the rostrum and danced with the backing dancers. The dancing was quite reggae based. The dancers dancing along with the sugababes created a nice performance. The dancing matched the music making the piece fit together. One of the dancers got the guitarist and led him to the centre of the stage where he stood and played whilst the dancers and sugababes danced next to him. This version sounded different to the studio version the sound was more reggae, I don’t know whether that was because the music was live or whether they changed the music to be more reggae for this performance. Also vocally they changed a lot of notes from the studio version, they took more risks doing more vocal aerobics.

Don’t Let Go
The song was introduced by Heidi who mentioned they wanted to do a cover song by a girl band. Heidi then mentioned they were going to sing a song by En Vogue. Barely any dancing was done for this song. Heidi sang the first verse, Amelle sang the second verse and Keisha sang the third verse. Nearer the end of the song Keisha adlibbed over Amelle and Heidi who were singing the chorus. This song was excellent and really suited the sugababes. Amelle’s voice inparticular really shone in the song.

Denial
The three dancers stood still individually at different parts of the stage with one blue semi-transparent cloth covering their back and arms (attached to their arms and hands). One dancer was stood at the rostrum. Just before Amelle’s second verse the sugababes went up to one dancer each and sat on a chair they had been disguising. Heidi went to the dancer on the rostrum, Keisha went to the left side of the stage and Amelle went to the right. When the second chorus started the dancers lifted their arm over to cover the sugababes. The dancers then covered and revealed the sugababes in unison. The sugababes were making movements with their arms and hands whilst they were doing this. When Heidi’s part started the dancer covering her revealed her and Heidi stood up. Amelle and Keisha remained cover until Heidi sang the lyrics “open minds for us” then they were revealed and stood up. This was a creative performance.

Change
Before the sugababes took to the stage two dancers turned on wind machines that blew what looked like petals up in the air and onto the audience. The sugababes wore robes with flowers attached to them. The screen in the back had a video of trees and flowers.

Mended By You
Whilst Heidi was singing her first verse Amelle and Keisha took to the rostrum. Heidi then joined them after singing her Verse. Amelle was stood in the middle and lower on one step in front of Heidi on the right and Keisha on the left. The screen had a video of clouds moving. Vocally the sugababes sang in tune with one another, this was impressive as this song was very demanding. For the big note, the “ahhhhhh” all three sugababes do together, they all really went for it and it sounded phenomenal. The music after the big note led straight into the next song.

Stronger
All the sugababes walked up to the top of the rostrum and stood together. When Keisha sang the first bridge the screen on the back changed and started to show a video of alternating rain and thunder and rippling water. Near the end of the song the screen on the back showed a rainbow.

Too Lost in You
A piano introduction was performed. All the sugababes were standing on the left of the stage with microphone stands. The screen showed a video; a silhouette of a man playing on a piano. All three sugababes were wearing black sparkly dresses. The music for this performance was really striped back. At points it appeared the sugababes were singing without any music. I think they performed this song with only a piano for the instrumental maybe a guitar also.

3 Spoons of Suga
Heidi stood left of the stage, Keisha stood right of the stage and Amelle sat on the rostrum for Keisha’s first verse. For the chorus all three sugababes met in the middle of the stage and formed a triangle facing each other. They then did some wonderful sixties chorography, swinging arms in the air and shaking their hips. Not all of the song was sung. The music led straight into the next song.

Overload
The screen showed a video of individual collages of each sugababe. The three dancers came on the stage and was each wearing a dress with a collage of one of the sugababes on it. The dancers did some funky dancing along side the sugababes. Each sugababe had one dancer next to them and leant on them, they also balanced on one leg and held the hand of the dancer next to them. The dancing for this performance was really original. This was the best performance of Overload I have seen the sugababes perform. Not all of the song was sung. At the end of the song they introduced the band and said give it up for the dancers.

Red Dress
This song was remixed with the instrumental of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Two Tribes Going to War”. The sugababes were wearing red dresses that looked like they were silk with black waist belts. The bottom of the dress puffed and was ruffled. Keisha stood on the rostrum for the first verse and did a catwalk to the stage. The dresses were excellent and the dancing complimented them. Towards the end of the song the dancers came on and took off the sugababes first layer of red clothing and posed next to them. They were wearing dresses made out of plastic underneath.

My Love is Pink
There was a lot of enthusiasm in the dancing. The dancing was cute and I enjoyed this performance. Amelle adlibbed Keisha’s bridge. At the end of the song they waved, it appeared they were leaving and left the stage.

Encore

Push the Button
This version wasn’t like the studio version it was more clappy, the drum was more loud and there was a lack of electronic sounding instruments which was a nice change. The chorography for this performance was cheerful and bubbly. In the chorus they were waving their hands from side to side in time with the music. Keisha was wearing a black blazer over a yellow top and black skirt. Heidi was wearing a black top and trouser with a yellow belt. Amelle was wearing a yellow top with black trousers.

About You Now
The sugababes did this song with a relaxed attitude. There was silly dancing and smiles to match. Near the end of the song the girls put their arms around each other. They put the microphone to the audience for the last line “about you now”.

They went to the left of the stage, the right of the stage and the middle of the stage and waved at each section of the audience. They thanked everyone and did silly dancing all the way off the stage.

Keisha mentioned it was her boyfriend’s birthday and wished him a happy birthday. I think he must have been in the audience or watching somewhere.

The venue was so small and intimate a real atmosphere was present in the show. The show had so many surprises and great hits that it was constantly pleasing the audience. Many of the songs were changed and fused together, this made them sound like new songs and created a feeling that these performances were going to be rare one offs for the tour. The song selection was spot on and each song flowed into the next creating a sense of fluid rhythm. The costumes and set pieces were abstract, creative and beautiful. The many costume changes being done in front of the audience was a great change. Vocally each member held their own and united they sounded amazing. Overall the show from beginning to end supplied thrills, surprises and entertainment. If this is change, then change is…amazing.

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