Pussycat Fail

Pussycat Dolls: MEN Arena
29 January 2009
**

If there's one thing you'd expect from a Pussycat Dolls concert it's a performance to put most acts to shame.  With their burlesque background, these five women should be able to fill a stage and excite. So what went so wrong at their Manchester 'Doll Domination' date that meant solo support acts Lady Gaga and Ne-Yo utterly stole the show?

Arriving astride shimmering motorbikes, Nicole and her gang took to the stage suitably attired in barely-there tartan outfits gyrating their way through much loved singles 'Beep' and 'Buttons'.  With furious routines, we can forgive them for lip synching but when it came to should-have-been #1 'I Hate This Part' we expected a little more.  That is, of course, until it burst into a hilariously over the top hi-NRG remix - a strangely fascinating tactic later employed again on the similarly slushy 'Stickwitu'. When the mics were on there were mixed results with only Nicole managed to sounded perfect on the powerful 'Halo'. Plus whoever thought that a segment of each member performing solo tracks was a good idea needs to be removed immediately from the world of pop.

This wasn't the only mistake. A dull video backdrop and ungainly stairs left the stage feeling empty and flat.  Despite regular disappearances, costume changes were far and few between, and save for a raunchy routine to a sultry cover of 'I Will Survive', the girls naughty spirit that gave them their edge seemed confined to a sequined top.

Only when the encore of 'Dont'cha' mixed gleefully into Robin S's Show Me Love' and recent single 'When I Grow Up' arrived, did the dolls finally seem to perform with the zest and charm we expected. Disappointing, but perhaps only because we know they can do so much better.

(Originally published at Orange, written in a nice fashion rather than my actual horrified beliefs - at one point I went to the toilet and walked back the long way just to kill some time)