 | | Girls Aloud |
You can see their point though. This is, after all, a group born out of reality TV who saw both their forbearers, the hideous Hear’say, and their rivals, One True Voice, disappear almost as soon as they had freed themselves from their Saturday night bonds. As such, there was a palpable sense of relief, alongside, at least in some of the group, a definite mood to party. Hardly surprising, given that this was Sarah Harding’s homecoming, a fact underlined by the countless waves and endless smile that emanated from her throughout. That said, if this was as good as Girls Aloud get, that relief could well be short-lived. For all the hits they ploughed through, they were distinctly average for the majority of the show, thanks in no small part to the disparity in their voices.  | | Girls Aloud |
On record, they may all work well together, but live, the strength of Sarah’s and Cheryl’s voices swamps their fellow Aloudettes to such a point that there are moments when Nadine and Nicola seem to be non-existent. Add to that, a bass line set at such a chest-punchingly high level that there were serious fears that ears would start bleeding and you end up with a sound that is, at times, unlistenable – something of a blessing when they mumbled through their hideous take on Walk This Way. Still, when it did come together, when the dancing slipped enjoyably into the mix and the sparse stage set was fully utilised, such as in an unexpected Dirty Dancing medley (complete with that famous lift for all five of them) or great versions of Sounds Of The Underground and Love Machine, there was plenty of fun to be had. And in the end, that’s what Girls Aloud are about. There may be gapping holes in their music and polish needed on the dancing, there may be a desperate need for a better sound engineer and some more money spent on the set, but there’s little doubt that when the audience left, they left with smiles on their faces. |
