0
Shakespears Sister’s performance tonight is testimony to how vastly underrated the once two-piece, now six-piece strong band is.
Admittedly, you’d be forgiven for presuming that such a show would be a nostalgia ridden, celebration of a couple of one time big hitting songs from decades past, but Shakespears Sister – moulded by the enigmatic force of nature that is Siobhan Fahey – have managed to craftily avoid this trap, providing the audience with a varied and powerful electro set.
Taking to the stage in a visually arresting vacuum tight silver one piece – complete with a ram horn-esque head piece – Fahey quickly seduces every vocally smitten male in the room into declaring their undying love for her following every song, and quite understandably. She’s irrepressibly magnetic, and most importantly she’s an incredibly inspiring two fingered salute to the moronic contemporary notion that women past a certain age can’t be cool, sexy or even rock out on stage. And definitely not in skintight silver lame.
Have that, chaps.
The set is heavily dominated with some killer pop-electro, three parts T-Rex and two parts Goldfrapp, including the riff pumping Pulsatron and the wonderfully titled Opportunity Knockers, all of which stand up strong against the potential threat of being mere filler for the performances of their earlier and most popular work.
When the big hits do get played, the crowd go predictably loco – particularly during You’re History and I Don’t Care, which are fantastic if just for nostalgia reasons, but also for reminding you of the belief begging genius a Shakespeare Sister pop song is.
J’adore!
Ending with a cheeky nudge-nudge-wink-wink rendition of Bananarama’s Really Saying Something in which grungy synths and walls of powerful vocals replace the twee sugar-pop production values of the original, Shakespears Sister bow out proud and beaming, having proved themselves to be a whole lot more than a choice clip on Top Of The Pops re-runs, or a Where Are They Now? piece in weekend newspapers.
Where are they now? Here. Happening. Now. Awesome. Nostalgia or otherwise.
Words by Amy Roberts
Photos by Sakura: http://rockphotographer.net
Shakespears Sister website:http://www.shakespearssister.co.uk