Girls Aloud: Tangled Up, Live from the O2 2008

October 28, 2008

So, the girls’ third live DVD arrives, following on from the Carling Academy and Wembley Arena gigs, and from the moment the concert states the continued evolution in the girls’ live performance is immediately obvious. Long gone are the tentative opening steps from the Carling Academy; now, the fivesome descends from the ceiling wearing capes and superhero outfits in one of the most dramatic, drawn-out concert openings I’ve seen.

The band arrive onstage

The O2 is a massive arena and the girls have a correspondingly massive set-up incorporating five huge video screens, three of which display the back-drop and two concentrate on the band. Just like The Rolling Stones’ Bridges to Babylon concerts, halfway through the gig a bridge descends from the ceiling and the girls cross to a much smaller, more intimate stage right in the middle of the audience to perform a couple of slower numbers. These have always been my last favourite parts of the concerts, and this one is no exception – I’m just not a fan of “I’ll Stand By You”, and the girls do a cover version of “With Every Heartbeat” that reduces it to a drawn-out and overblown ballad, stripping away what little charm the song possessed in the first place. It’s the one and only bum note of the entire concert.

The B stage

Elsewhere, when they hit the heights, they do prove themselves to be consumate entertainers. They still aren’t the world’s best singers, and their dancing can still be quite ropey and has an enjoyable ‘we’re making this up as we go along!’ kind of air, but for me that’s always been part of the bands’ charm. They never pretend to be the best at anything – they just want to sing and dance, have a good time, and make sure everyone else does too.

The band onstage

They always include a couple of covers from leftfield, which in past years have included “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus and the Kaiser Chiefs’ “I Predict A Riot” and they follow suit in this set. As mentioned, “With Every Heartbeat” is not a rip-roaring success, and the other full-length cover version here is “Push It” by Salt & Pepa. It’s a curious track; not much of a song, and here the lead guitarist really lets rip with an axe solo, making it a curious hybrid of rock, rap and pop – just like “Walk This Way” in fact, which is segued here with “Wake Me Up”.

Kimberley

There’s a point I need to make about the band here. Some of the songs have been slightly re-interpreted, which I put down to the Musical Director, who is also part of the band. For example “Biology” no longer has that rip-roaring, Kinks-esque sixties opening, it’s all a little more stripped down and possibly even subdued.

Nicola

That’s not to say the songs are any worse for it, and I think there are actually less musicians than previous tours. All I’m saying is that the songs are not note-for-note reproductions of the album versions and you should be aware of that.

Nadine

The low point I have mentioned above; the high point, for me at any rate, is “Black Jacks” from the most recent album. There’s a point on the documentary on the DVD (more on the extras later) where the girls are asked to pick their favourite parts and no-one selects this song. And yet, when I watch, they all really seem to catch fire on this one and you can hear from the strength of their vocals and the way they dance that they are really into this song. It’s just one of the moments when they click and they prove, much to the chagrin of their detractors, that they really are the top pop band on the planet.

Black Jacks

No, they don’t write their own stuff or play instruments, but pop is all about entertainment – pure escapism, which, whilst we’re in the midst of the recession that Labour seems to be pulling us into, is for me at least very welcome. So, “Blacks Jacks” is the video that I’ve posted to go with this review.

(It may be that YouTube take it down, but if so then c’est la vie. I’ve only posted it so that I could post this review and hopefully other people will be inspired to buy the DVD and if the record company don’t want that to happen, then fair enough!).

Sarah

Extras on this DVD are, as per the others, relatively thin on the ground. The promo videos rom “Sexy! No No No …”, “Call The Shots” and ” Can’t Speak French” (this latter another highlight of the live show); two TV ads; and a ‘behind the scenes’ documentary which is surprisingly entertaining. Each of the band members presents their own little section and from the looks of it they’re all ad libbed and done on the fly.

Something Kinda Oooh

Cheryl in particular is in good form. She shows the camera around the tour bus (they’ve come a long way from the first tour, when they had to do their own make up etc!) and I’m not going to give away any secrets, but lets just say that one of the girls hasn’t slept in her own bed on the tour bus once!

The band's entrance to the arena

And there’s a part where she finds a vest top and a half-finished bottle of vodka in the girls’ area, and by smelling it she can identify that it belongs to Simon, one of the regular backing dancers – quite how she identifies it from the smell, I’m not sure. She sees Simon passing by the bus as they’re filing and she goes out to confront him, leaving the other male dancers laughing at him.

Nadine not concentrating

Verdict? Probably the best concert DVD they’ve done so far and well worth the fourteen quid or so that you’ll have to shell out for it.

Black Jacks

Tracklisting:

1. Sexy! No No No…
2. Girl Overboard
3. Sound Of The Underground
4. Close To Love
5. Can’t Speak French
6. Love Machine
7. Black Jacks
8. Biology
9. Whole Lotta History
10. With Every Heartbeat
11. I’ll Stand By You
12. Fling
13. Push It
14. Wake Me Up / Walk This Way
15. Control Of The Knife
16. Call The Shots
17. Jump Live
18. Something Kinda Ooooh