The music drops out as Sugababes ask the crowd to take one more run at the fizzing chorus of their 2007 single About You Now. “Can we bring yesterday back around?” they roar in response. On a sodden Sunday evening that has felt every inch like a top-drawer Friday night, the answer is a resounding yes.
It’s taken some time for that answer to come. It’s been a decade since the original lineup of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy first reunited as Mutya Keisha Siobhán, three years since they reclaimed the Sugababes name, and a little over three months since their packed Glastonbury performance became the festival’s surprise hit. Perhaps as a result, their set is lean and laser-focused, wasting no time in driving home the fact that Sugababes didn’t have a moment in British pop, they had an era. Watching them play the hits is like a magician pulling a scarf out of their sleeve: just when you think they’re done, there’s more.
Push the Button lights the touch paper, the trio swaying from side to side in inimitable fashion. Given the frequent personnel changes that once made them a tabloid fixture – their 18 Top 10 hits, including six No 1s, were achieved with four distinct lineups – these small, familiar flourishes matter. A sensational Red Dress follows, its minimalistic choreography playing beautifully off pulsing lights and lurching time changes from their dextrous band, while Hole in the Head and Too Lost in You cap off a murderers’ row of an opening segment.
Flatline, an excellent song that was a resounding flop for Mutya Keisha Siobhán in 2013, is welcomed back into the fold, displaying the same sense of cool that set Sugababes apart when they released Overload 22 years ago. Equally, the night’s ballads, in particular an impassioned Stronger, are delivered with crisp interplay that emphasises their roots as a harmony group – a torch carried by new British girl band FLO, who are clearly indebted to the trio.
The final moments are a flex from a very good singles band, with Round Round leading into Freak Like Me and About You Now’s celebratory sign off. There will be sore heads on Monday morning, but only because of another yesterday worth repeating.
Sugababes tour the UK until 7 November.
