Sophie Ellis Bextor LIVE

So it was a brand new venue, indeed a brand new town, in the Warrington Parr Hall. Lovely meal in the adjoining Olive Press beforehand (to overhear the waitress saying that only 500 tickets had been sold for the concert) and then it was into the venue itself.

Support act was a group called The Sylvias. They seemed to go down quite well with the crowd but really although they were alright their songs did seem to go on quite a bit. I tell ya, they could teach the Editors a thing or two about stretching out two small verses and a chorus into as long a song as possible.

As the crowd swelled in anticipation of the main event, it was clear that if ever Sophie Ellis Bextor loses her record deal, she will be able to make a killing doing PA's at Gay Clubs and for hen nights. There also seemed to be about 6 men in total in the building who were heterosexual and not with their WAG's.

Indeed at one point in the evening Bextor acknowledged that her make-up was "drag queeny as the best of times" and whilst at times it did seem like the show had been genetically engineered to appeal to the pink pound, it would be wrong to dismiss it on that level.

I personally found myself surprised at just how many good pop singles she's had, and all were met with delight by the small, but very appreciative crowd. Even the album tracks were warmly welcomed, including the more dreary ones.

Ok, so none of this was reinventing the wheel but it was exactly what you would want in a pop concert. Catchy songs, sung with gusto and a hell of a lot of fun.

And on a final note, Bextor's version of David Bowie's Lets Dance in the encore may have been one of the greatest things ever.