Sugababes LIVE

Well the day starts off well. Everton beat Villa. Tottenham beat Birmingham (and drop Stalteri - which proves that Martin Jol takes notice of me) and I drink five pints of the Guinness. Throw in another all you can eat Chinese buffet (although where were the Deep Fried Crab Sticks I ask you?) and England losing in the Six Nations (unpatriotic that may be, but it was funny) and even the fact of me being, shall we say, "ill" outside the palatial Philharmonic hall cannot ruin the build up.

We missed the support act, one Shawn Emmanuel or something, but I dare say that was no great loss. As usual there was the slight embarassment that you're sat in the middle of a load of 10 year olds (although there were a smattering of non-parent oldies like ourselves dotted about) but hey, I've done this enough times now to let all that wash over me.

So it was onto the concert itself.

The good news is that the new girl Amelle fitted in very nicely and the 'Babes were as professional and competent as you would expect them to be.

The bad news, for me anyway, was the fact that other than a raised platform bit and three slightly bizarre boxes later on in the evening, there was very little going on AND the concert only lasted just over an hour.

These bad things were made worse by the fact that last time I saw the Sugababes, there was a hell of a lot more going on onstage (the bit with the bed, the pole dancing etc.) and they did a lot more songs. I know that the fact that the new girl has joined probably meant that they didn't have the time to either learn more of the songs or put on a more elaborate show but really when you are paying £21.50 (plus booking) for a ticket it's not really my problem.

Don't get me wrong; what they did was great, and they have some classic pop tunes in the cannon. Amelle proved to be a great addition to the band and all three looked like they were having a good time. But really I couldn't help feeling short-changed. And the fact that they made no real effort to inform us that Red Dress and Push The Button were the encore seems to me to suggest that they knew they weren't exactly putting their best foot forward.

And also, I have to mention that it is slightly surreal seeing the 'Babes do Overload and Run For Cover when there is only one of the people who actually sung on that left. It's like seeing Gerry Marsden on one of those 60's reunion tours without the Pacemakers :-)