The road to the Pussycat Dolls’ comeback tour has been fraught. Originally announced in 2019 with all but one of the group’s original members on board, the pandemic and then a legal dispute, led to its cancellation. After a few years of silence, three members – Nicole Scherzinger, Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt – shared plans for a 53-date world tour as a trio. Poor ticket sales nixed the US leg, though, while Maga-supporting former member Jessica Sutta alleged she was left out of the reunion because she was viewed as “a liability” (the group did not comment).
Does a girlband ostensibly created as a dance troupe work as a trio? While Scherzinger’s voice pushed them into pop stardom – they scored six UK Top 3 hits in their initial 2005-09 run – their appeal was largely the fierce group choreography. On stage in Birmingham, they give it their best go. The nearly two-hour show is a whirlwind of hair-flipping, booty-shaking and synchronised strutting. Throughout When I Grow Up, Beep and I Don’t Need a Man, Scherzinger is still on lead vocals, predictably so after her recent Tony award-winning run on Broadway in Sunset Blvd. Roberts and Wyatt are given some time to shine, though: their solos amid the clacking pots-and-pans percussion of Wait a Minute feel pointed, as if to say that, yes, their mics are on.
